Inferno Company
by enderdez45
Summary: Two years after the Battle of Geonosis, Master Yoda and Commander Flint commission a team of elite clones to serve under the name Inferno Company. Led by the Zeltron Jedi Knight Jiana Razhuli and her Twi'lek Padawan Uliia Nodulu, Inferno Company undertakes some of the most violent and intense battles in the war. Rated M for violence, language, and graphic imagery.
1. Inception

**Star Wars: Inferno Company**

_Enderdez45_

**This is a work of fiction detailing a Clone Wars-era version of Inferno Squad from Battlefront II. It is not at all related to Lucasfilm or Disney in any way, and I do not claim any ownership of anything in the franchise.**

* * *

Chapter 1: Inception

"Master Yoda, about this proposal of yours…"

The small Jedi gazed up as Marshall Commander Flint entered the room. "Looked at it, the Council has? A decision, they have made?"

"Well, Sir, the War Council is still in deliberation, but High Command and the Defense Procurement Office are well in agreement with the idea of your 'Inferno Company'. I have faith that it will see the light, however."

Yoda sat in his specially prepared hoverchair, which promptly floated up to meet the Commander at the conference table. "Good, this has become. For the sake of our future, these clones shall fight. Potential candidates, you have been seeking?"

"Yes, Master Yoda. I have been personally reviewing soldiers from over 30 battalions."

"Plenty of skill, these men have?"

"Well, right now there are only enough for two special forces squads."

"Of tens of thousands, only eight…" The ancient Jedi swiped his hand over the table, a hologram appearing over it. Eight clones hovered in the air before him, in varying suits of armor. "The names of these men, I would like to know."

"Yes, Master Yoda." The first clone grew larger, the image slowly rotating. The clone had a prominent scar rising vertically just to the side of his windpipe, a jagged reminder of some long-gone conflict. He was wearing an orange-striped suit of armor, a worn kama circling his waist. A DP-23 shotgun sat in his hands, and a grenade belt crossed his chest. "This is 'Quint', officially CP-5-5555. He's a paratrooper with the 212th Attack Battalion. He brought attention to himself when he led a squad that successfully infiltrated a secret Separatist factory on Bespin. After his LAAT was nearly shot down by a lone Vulture Droid, he leapt from it and landed on the droid, wrapped his grenade belt around its wing, and dove off as it exploded. He landed on a stray cloud car and met back up with his squad, helping to repair the gunship before destroying the factory."

"A brave man with no regard for his own safety, hmm? Considers his allies above him, he does. A model clone, he is."

"Yes, sir. I believe him to be a fitting addition to Inferno Company. Next, we have 'Falcon', a sniper from the 41stScout Battalion." The image of Quint changed to one of a clone in camouflage-patterned scout armor. His helmet was on, obscuring his face, but something behind his visor told Yoda that this was a clone who had seen a lot of battle. Resting on his shoulder was a standard-issue DC-15X sniper rifle, but equipped with an expanded clip, a larger scope, and a barrel extension. On his waist, a Bluurg holdout pistol was clipped next to a set of electrobinoculars and several other gadgets. "He is highly trained in stealth and survival tactics, and is an expert in Jungle warfare. I selected him after learning of his feats on Umbara. One accomplishment that stood out to me was his squad's story of an ambush he sprung on an unsuspecting Separatist battalion. He left his company after believing they were taking too long to come up with a plan, proceeded to eliminate a squad of Commando Droids guarding a hostage emissary, and then circled around the encampment, taking shots from various positions to trick the enemy into thinking they were surrounded by a platoon. After forcing a surrender, he brought the emissary back to his company before any of his teammates realized he was missing."

"A rogue spirit, hmm? Abandons the reins of control, he does. Guide him, we must."

The image flickered to one of an ARC Trooper, dual pistols in hand and a WESTAR-M5 rifle slung across his back. Blue armor was accented by yellow stripes and a thick black kama and dual shoulder pauldrons, and two oxygen cables ran from his helmet to his survival pack. "This is ARC Major Rhino, nicknamed the 'Cobalt Hero' for his efforts in defending Christophsis. He singlehandedly took out no less than three Octoparra droids and almost a dozen B-2 super battle droids. Currently, he serves as the leader of the Christophsis Global Guard."

"'The Cobalt Hero;' quite a title, that is. The leader of the Company, he will be?"

"Yes, Rhino will be the leader. He's held a leadership position for two years now, and as one of the most senior clones he has had the most experience."

"A wise man, he has become."

"Indeed." The image changed once again, this time the image bringing a raised eyebrow to Yoda's forehead. A clone commando, armed with his DC-17m repeater and pistol, stared back, clad in unusual pitch-black armor and a glowing red visor. "This is Clone Commando Noctus. He's a Major currently deployed with a group of Shadow Troopers in the Unknown Regions. He elected to use the special scanner-proof armor reserved for Shadows, and engineers managed to install a miniature cloaking device in his survival pack, at his request. It wasn't cheap, but the speed he finishes his missions is far beyond any other soldier. His agility, his precision, his focus… It's hard to believe he's really a clone."

"No problems, he will have, with his loss of independence, hmm? Commandos report to none but themselves, yes?"

"Well, Master Yoda, he actually volunteered for this." Flint shrugged his shoulders at the Jedi's intrigued look. "I don't know how he found out." The image changed once again. "In any case, this is the team's medic." The next clone was wearing white armor with orange shoulder pads and emblems on the helmet. His utility belt was larger than normal, to accommodate the medical supplies he carried, and he carried a large medical pack on his back, but his image still wielded a training blaster. "CT-4-8264. He's a cadet right now, but he ranked as one of the highest medical trained troopers in Tipoca City's history. He was originally destined to serve as the chief medical officer aboard the Kaliida Shoals Medical Center in the Outer Rim, but he is currently receiving sharpshooter training and will be ready for deployment very soon."

"Other medics on their ship, there will be, I presume?"

"Yes, the ship will have around fifteen additional non-combat medical officers under 8264's command, along with a few clone engineers, navigation officers, and flight crew members. Ah, that reminds me, the clones are receiving flight training as well. The DPO has reserved funding for the troops to utilize modified Eta-2 Actis Interceptors. They will be equipped with triple thrusters, increased armoring, cloaking devices, and more storage space for their equipment."

The hologram temporarily swapped over to display the aforementioned starfighter, painted black with red accents. The primary cannons extended slightly further than usual, and a third thruster sat on the rear, directly behind the cockpit. "That third engine is a heavy-duty sub-lightspeed thruster normally designed for torpedoes, but Kuat Systems managed to retrofit them to the fighter. They're now capable of achieving almost fifteen thousand kilometers per hour atmospheric speed, which is ten times as fast as the next fastest fighters." The hologram changed back to the clones, showing one in a suit of armor that Yoda recognized.

"The 91st, hmm? Out of eight men, three are scouts? Almost half the group, that is."

"CT-4-5872 has shown unusually high reflexes, and it was proposed by the DPO to train him to be an Advanced Recon Force commando. However, he has declined this opportunity, instead requesting something that, and I quote him exactly, 'isn't some boring, stick-up-the-ass job. AT-RT's are too slow for me and I don't like standing still.'" This brought a chuckle from the ancient Jedi.

"Spirit, this one has. Hold together the crew, he will."

The next clone displayed over the table was wearing orange armor, and had a large backpack with several detonators strapped to the outside. "This is Smokey, an Ordinance Specialist. He was selected out of necessity of the types of missions Inferno Company will be undertaking, but his skills in detecting and disarming traps of any kind are quite useful. He doesn't see as much combat as some of the other clones, but he joins the Coruscant Guard when important dignitaries arrive so that he can sniff out any threats." The hologram faded into that of a heavily armored clone carrying a missile launcher. He wore a set of rangefinder goggles on his helmet and there were metal plates on his chest and shoulders. An ammo pouch rested on the rear of his belt, and six small rockets were clipped to his sides. "Their heavy weapons specialist is Trigger. He's an older clone who served on Geonosis and Christophsis, and has worked with Smokey on a few sabotage missions."

"Good men, they seem. Meet them, I would like to."

"I'll arrange that right now, Master Yoda."

* * *

_Umbara; 212th Attack Battalion_

"Hey Quint, got a minute?"

The paratrooper in question stood at once. "Yes, Commander Cody." He set his rations down on the rock he had been sitting on and jogged over to Cody's command station: a simple computer and hologram projector on a flat rock.

"Marshall Commander Flint of the 9th wants to see you ASAP. I called a shuttle to take you to a transport heading to Coruscant."

Quint looked over his shoulder at the rest of his weary squad mates. "With all due respect, sir, I'd much rather prefer to stay here and help you guys."

"These aren't my orders, they're orders from General Yoda himself, relayed through Flint." Mention of the ancient Jedi brought the eyes of a few clones within earshot. "Nothing bad, it seems. Go collect your gear. Shuttle lands in three minutes."

Quint saluted and made his way back to his rock, sitting down and swallowing the rest of his rations. His teammate and friend from training, Lucky, glanced up at him as he scarfed down his meal. "Quint, what was that about?" He shrugged, finishing his meal and tugging on his helmet as a shuttle landed a few dozen meters away.

"Marshall Commander Flint wants to see me, on General Yoda's orders."

"Seems pretty big. Good luck."

Quint nodded as he grabbed his shotgun and slung it over his shoulder, climbing on board the shuttle with one last glance at his friends, then turned and sat as the hatch closed behind him.

* * *

_The Elysium, Venator-class Star Destroyer; 41st Scout Battalion_

Falcon awoke with a start, his sensitive ears picking up the sound of approaching metallic footsteps. Tightening his unconscious grip on his pistol, he slowly rose, then sighed and sat back down as a green camouflage-painted protocol droid stopped at the door to his quarters.

"Falcon, Commander Gree wishes to see you on the bridge. And put that thing down before you shoot someone's eye out."

"Oh, shut up before someone turns you into can." Flicking a middle finger at the departing droid, who returned the gesture, Falcon picked up his rifle and went into the hallway, turning the opposite direction of the droid and entering the elevator. A few minutes later, he stood before Gree on the bridge of _The Elysium_, overlooking Coruscant.

"At the request of Marshall Commander Flint, General Yoda would like to see you." Gree took off his helmet, a glint in his eye. "What'd ya do?"

"I haven't done anything, Sir. And if I may, can I ask that you not send your little errand boy to fetch me next time? Just call me."

"I get that you and TC-104 butt heads, but you ought to lighten up a bit. I'm still pissed at you for teaching him how to shoot the bird at people he dislikes, because for whatever reason General Unduli was at the receiving end of that, and now I'm in trouble. Get moving." Falcon saluted him and turned, Gree rolling his eye as the rebellious soldier stuck out his foot, nearly tripping TC-104 as the droid entered the bridge.

* * *

_Christophsis; Global Command_

Major Rhino stood outside the door, guns aimed at the small window peering out. Slipping one back into its holster, he retrieved a mine from his utility belt and stuck it to the latch, the magnetic seal making a dull _thunk_ against the metal. Checking his oxygen levels, he backed up a few feet and hit the button on the detonator. The door dented inwards at the explosion, then immediately exploded out into the abyss, the rapid loss of air pressure in the ship sucking bits of debris out into space. Gradually, the flow of air ceased, and he walked across the surface of the vessel, his magnet boots clanging as he charged towards the entrance. Leaping into the gash, he slammed the control panel, an emergency blast door sealing off behind him as air quickly flowed into the corridor, repressuring the ship as alarms blared. Making his way further into the belly of the ship, he made it to an elevator shaft when the lights suddenly cut off and the buttons stopped working.

"Cut the power, eh?" Rhino activated his helmet-mounted light and, using his raw strength, pried the elevator doors open. Glancing up and down the shaft, he spied his target: the door to the bridge. Retrieving his rifle from his back, he slipped a grappling hook launcher under the barrel and aimed up, firing into the ceiling. Reeling up to the door, he frowned under his helmet and clipped his rifle to his belt, suspending himself from the ceiling. Reaching behind him into his backpack, he pulled out what looked like a metal plate with four magnets on it. It was a breaching plate, designed for scenarios just like this. He stuck it to the door and hit the primer button, then unclipped his gun and reeled himself up a bit more. He began to swing, building up momentum, then as he swung forward one last time he let out the line, flying forward into the door as he kicked at the plate.

A small explosive charge on the underside went off as his feet hit it, the clone flying through the now-destroyed doorway. He rolled to a halt and trained his rifle on the band of panicked criminals. "Hands up, all of you! Put the blasters on the ground and kick them away!" Trembling, a few of them did as instructed, but two growled and charged Rhino.

He fired a single shot at the one on the left, hitting him in the knee as he jumped at the second criminal, vibrodagger flipping out of its sheath into his hand and halting just millimeters before the criminal's throat. "Get back in line and put your hands on your head before I tear your throat out." As the first criminal lay whimpering, holding his knee in agony, the second dropped his blaster and backed up, hands shaking as he glared at Rhino, who trained his rifle on them as he radioed the _Sarthe_, the cruiser that had dropped him off on the stolen ship. "This is Rhino. I got nine ship thieves in here at gunpoint. One's injured and another shit himself." The second criminal who had attacked him growled, but went silent as the rifle pressed against his forehead, Rhino sending a glare at the criminal. "Send a team in to take them away and take the ship back down."

"Copy that, Rhino. Also, when you get back on board the _Sarthe_, we got Marshall Commander Flint of the 9th on the line. He wants to talk to you."

* * *

_[LOCATION REDACTED], [UNIT REDACTED]_

[THIS SECTION HAS BEEN CENSORED IN ORDER TO PROTECT THE INTERESTS OF THE REPUBLIC. WE THANK YOU FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING]

* * *

_Tipoca City, Kamino; Cadet Training Grounds_

"Congratulations, CT-4-8264. You are now a Clone Trooper." The orange-armor clad clone saluted his superior, unease visible in his eyes. "Were you destined to be deployed as a Medical Officer, you would have automatically been promoted to Commander based solely on your aptitude, but because you are being drafted to combat, you're the same as everyone else. I'm sorry."

"That's all right, sir. I'll be happy to do what the Republic needs of me." It was a lie. 8264 hated lying to his superior officer, and he was fairly certain the officer knew, but he elected to do what he had been trained to do: shut up and follow orders.

"At the very least, in anything related to medicine, you DO possess the rank of Commander. If someone is injured, you will outrank nearly everyone in your new squadron, and will have the final say. But in combat, or training, or anywhere else, you are a Trooper. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir. Sir, if I may, what unit will I be assigned to?" He was really hoping for an assignment in the Inner Core. If he were to be assigned there, he wouldn't have to see much combat, and he would most likely serve aboard a medical ship as an officer.

"Marshall Commander Flint would like to speak with you about your deployment." 8264's face went white for an instant, then back to normal. Marshall Commander Flint was in charge of the 9th Assault Corps, one of the most battle-oriented units in the Republican Army. But if Flint had personally called a trooper like him forward, then that could only mean-

"Am I being transferred to the 41st, sir?"

"I do not believe so, but you will find out when you get to Coruscant."

* * *

_Star Destroyer Endurance; 91st Scout Battalion_

"Oi, Speedy! Get the hell off your bike! You're wasting fuel!"

The aforementioned clone whirled the BARC speeder around the hangar bay, skidding to a halt in front of Clone Commander Neyo. "I get that you're feeling cooped up, but for the love of all that's holy don't go racing your speeder around the hangar while we're in hyperspace!"

"Neyo, if you got a problem then take it up with Kamino, they're the ones who made me this way."

"What seems to be the issue, Commander?" Stass Allie, the Jedi currently leading the 91st, approached the two clones. "If he's feeling restless, then by all means he should be able to burn off his energy." She threw a wink at the problematic clone, who saluted. "In fact, I was thinking of organizing a little race around the hangar. When you're in hyperspace for five hours straight, it can get quite boring, you know?"

"General, it is unsafe to be piloting a speeder bike while in hyperspace. Look, the only protection we have against space right now are those shields." He pointed behind Allie, at the deflector shields covering the open hangar doors. "They won't prevent a speeder bike from flying out into space if he's not careful. Besides, he uses over a fifth of our bike fuel reserves alone. Speedy needs to learn when to shut up and sit down, especially considering his transfer."

"I'm getting transferred? When was I going to be told this?"

"That's why we're heading to Coruscant right now. Marshall Commander Flint of the 9th will tell you about it personally."

* * *

_Coruscant, Level 4,937; Lone patrol_

Smokey walked through the middle levels of the city, trailing his scanner. Following him, a few meters back, a squadron of riot troopers marched, stun guns at the ready. Smokey checked his navigator, pushing through the crowds, until he finally reached a little girl wearing a backpack, standing in the middle of the streets. She seemed to be looking for someone, and upon spotting Smokey, her eyes lit up and she ran over to him. He dropped to a knee as she approached him, tears welling up. "Excuse me Mr. Clone, I'm looking for my daddy. I got lost. Can you help me?"

Smokey glanced down at his scanner. He was right on top of it. He cursed internally, then removed his helmet, a smile on his face. "Of course, little one. My name's Smokey. What's yours?"

"Leela," the girl sniffled. "Daddy was supposed to be dropping me off at the daycare while he went to work, but I got separated in the crowd."

"Alright Leela, don't worry." He stood up and lifted Leela into the air, setting her atop his shoulders. "Do you see him from up there?" She looked around, but shook her head. While she was looking, he secretly lifted a small scanner and waved it behind her. Checking the display, his face momentarily darkened, but returned to normal as he set Leela down. "That's a lovely backpack you have there. I have one too, you know." He turned, showing the little girl the utility pack strapped to his back. "Where'd you get yours?"

"My daddy gave it to me this morning. It's different from the one I usually bring, but he said it had something important in it. He had one just like it." His face went white, unnoticed by the girl. He motioned to the riot troopers, who began clearing a path as one called in a skyspeeder.

"Do you know where your dad works?"

"He works in the Center of Military Operations as a maintenance worker."

Smokey stood up quickly, strapping his helmet back on his head. "Come with me. I'll take you to him." Grabbing her hand, he led her to the speeder, strapping her in before leaping in the pilot's seat, slamming the thrusters as he rocketed off into the sky. Flying through the air, the speeder soon arrived at the upper level and made a beeline for the CMO. As they flew, he turned to the girl. "What's your dad's name?"

"Jarvey Morkus."

Smokey lifted a hand to his helmet's commlink. "I need a team of riot troopers at the CMO as soon as possible. I also need to know where Jarvey Morkus works."

"Hold on, let me check…" He heard rapid typing over the radio. "He works in maintenance. Right now, he's still outside the building."

"Does he have a backpack on?"

"Um… yes, he is wearing one."

"Don't let him get into the building, but don't deliberately block him. Don't make him suspicious."

"Copy that."

A few minutes passed, and the speeder landed in front of the Center of Military Operations. Smokey hopped out, unstrapping Leela and walking her over to a man wearing a backpack, currently engaged in conversation with a clone officer.

"Daddy!" Leela ran forward, and Jarvey turned around, shocked, as he knelt down to hug her.

"Leela? What are you doing here? You should be at the daycare right now!"

"She was lost in the streets, sir. You should take better care of your daughter." Jarvey's face went white as Smokey stepped forwards. "On that note, I need to speak with you. Leela, can I see your bag for a moment? I'll give it right back."

"Okay!" She handed him the bag, which Smokey noticed was disturbingly heavy. The clone grabbed Jarvey and pulled him off to the side, a ways away from his daughter, who was now being questioned by the officer. A team of riot troopers surrounded the two, shields out as a precautionary measure. Once he was a safe distance from the girl, Smokey stripped the backpack off of Jarvey as a squad of shock troopers surrounded him. As one cuffed him, Smokey opened the bags.

"Just as I thought." Inside each bag, a large bomb sat primed and ready to detonate. Reaching into his pack, Smokey pulled out a set of wire cutters and a screwdriver. As the clones escorted Jarvey away, a squad armed with blast shields surrounded Smokey as he set to work defusing the bombs. He worked fast, removing the cover plates in short time and sorting through various wires. The smaller one that was hidden in Leela's bag was easy, but the large one wasn't as simple. After a few minutes, Smokey stood up, motioning for the other clones to back up. He placed a small remote grenade on the bomb and set a portable shield around it. Once it was encased in the shield, he backed up a few meters and pressed the detonator.

Even with the shield, the ground shook as the shockwave from the blast ricocheted within the shield, violently imploding upon itself and dissipating. The shield collapsed, and a cloud of smoke rose above the scorched pavement. Smoky sighed, then his commlink crackled to life. "That was the fourth one today, Command. I'm really tired. What now?"

"Marshall Commander Flint of the 9th wishes to see you. Report to base immediately."

* * *

_Kaliida Shoals Medical Center, Outer Rim_

Trigger winced as T-9O pulled yet another piece of shrapnel out of his back. "Can't you give me anything for the pain?"

"I consider your pain to be a fitting punishment for your immense stupidity, Trigger." At this point, Trigger and the medical droid were basically friends, considering how much time Trigger spent in the hospital. "I cannot comprehend how such a highly-trained clone such as yourself can be so careless. Your chest plate is equipped with reinforced armor for a reason."

"Yeah, but when a cadet's mortar misfires, you can't really stand still and take it. You grab the kid and protect him."

"Would it kill you to remain healthy for just one mission? Actually, no, it would have the opposite effect. Please do. It is pathetic for a soldier to have such close relations with a medical droid such as myself."

"Come on, T-9O. You're the only one who understands me."

T-9O was less careful pulling out the next piece of metal, making Trigger yelp. "At this point, I know your physical form better than the cloners who made you. Your mind, however, is a mystery to all."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I'll try to be more careful from now on. I'm sure you'll miss me if I die."

"My programming prevents me from feeling emotional attachment to anybody." He sprayed a mist of bacta over Trigger's back, then wrapped it in a bandage. "You're fine. Get out of here." As the clone slipped his armor back on and left the room, T-9O watched him for a moment, then turned to the next patient.

Outside the operating room, Trigger was stopped by a protocol droid. "CT-2-2947, Marshall Commander Flint of the 9th Assault Corps would like to speak with you. There is a transport waiting in docking bay Nine-Gamma." Trigger nodded and walked down the hallway, passing dozens of clones with various injuries; a few broken arms, some burns, a cut across the chest… the list went on. At Kaliida Shoals, just about any injury a clone could receive was being treated. Trigger's mind went over a short summary of the many injuries he had treated here, almost always by T-9O: concussions, broken ribs, broken arms, broken legs, ruptured kidney, blaster wounds, shrapnel wounds… not that he was a bad soldier. It wasn't his fault that he got injured so often. Being specially bred for proficiency in heavy weaponry like mortars, rockets, heavy repeaters, cannons, tanks… it isn't an easy job, even when you were literally born for it.

* * *

_Briefing room, Coruscant Command HQ_

Marshall Commander Flint saluted the clones as they entered the room. They were surprised to see Master Yoda sitting beside the commander, and saluted the Jedi.

"At ease, you may be." As Yoda bowed to the clones, Flint sat down and addressed them.

"You eight are here because you are the best clones in the army. We have selected you, along with two Jedi, to form a team of elite troopers who will carry out high-security missions across the galaxy. Rhino?"

"Sir!"

"As the highest-ranking clone, you will lead Inferno Company. Take your squadron to the shipyards. You'll be assigned to an _Arquitens_-class cruiser called the_ Vorpent_. There you will meet the Jedi assigned to you. Dismissed!"

A half-hour later, the clones stood before the_ Vorpent_. It was a smaller cruiser, painted jet black. Just in front of the main hangar doors stood two female Jedi, looking up at the ship. The older one turned and smiled as the clones approached. "Ah, you must be the rest of Inferno Company. I am Jedi Knight Jiana Razhuli." Jiana was a Zeltron, a gorgeous, red-skinned woman with navy-blue hair. She pulled the younger Jedi over, a blue-skinned Twi'lek girl. "This is Uliia Nodulu, my Padawan. We're glad to be fighting with you."

"Major Rhino of Christophsis Global Command, at your service, General." He gestured around him, introducing the clones. "This is Sergeant Quint of the 212th, Sergeant Major Falcon of the 41st, Lieutenant Smokey of the Coruscant Guard, Sergeant Major Speedy of the 91st, Lieutenant Trigger of the 21st, our medic CT-4-8264, and- where'd Noctus go?"

"Already on board, sir," Quint said. "He said there wasn't time to waste talking and brought his supplies in."

Rhino sighed. "Alright. Sorry, General, you'll meet him later. He's a character, for sure." Once the clones and Jedi brought all their supplies into the ship, it took off, sailing into orbit while they awaited their orders. The squad explored the ship, and encountered Noctus bringing all their belongings into the barracks.

"Hey, why are we sleeping here with the clones?" Uliia asked. "Don't we get our own rooms because we're Jedi?"

"You're here, little girl," Noctus said, "because if we get an emergency call, we all need to be able to instantly group up."

"Little- listen, you! I am stronger than you will ever be! Plus, I'm a Commander! I outrank you!"

"No, you don't." Noctus turned to Uliia. "Commandos don't take orders from anyone but a General."

"He's right, Commander." Quint, who had removed his helmet, sat checking his shotgun. "Commandos pretty much do what they want."

"Relax, Uliia." Jiana placed a hand on her exasperated Padawan's shoulder. "I apologize for my Padawan's behavior. She is uncomfortable around men." The clones shared a knowing look. _Slave_. "Uliia, it's okay. These are good men. They won't do anything to you. Their job is to protect you."

"I don't need protecting. I'm perfectly strong enough as it is." Uliia hopped up to the top bunk of her and Jiana's shared bunk bed, laying down. "I'll prove it."

A message came through on Rhino's commlink. "Alright squad, we got our first mission." A hologram shone from the ceiling, displaying an image of a desert town. "We're going to Tatooine for an extermination."

"What the hell do they think we are?" Falcon complained. "Why are they sending an elite clone squad for an extermination?"

"It seems that the town of Mos Eisley has had a problem with a Separatist warship. There's at least six battalions of battle droids there, along with a complement of commando droids and spider droids."

"They're sending ten people to wipe out almost four thousand droids?" Trigger lifted his chaingun, grinning beneath his helmet. "Count me in!"

* * *

**I'm a huge Star Wars fan, and I figured I'd do something different than most fanfics on this site. Instead of rewriting the main characters' stories, I decided to write a completely original story based as a precursor to the Empire's Inferno Squad. The events in this story are not canon, but the story will be written in a way that it doesn't interfere with the canon. It's a non-canon canon. Enjoy!**

**EDIT (8/13/20): I have received a message stating that an _Arquitens_-class cruiser does not have a hangar, and cannot carry Inferno Company's starfighters. I am aware of this; I have done a lot of research while making this story. During the time of the Empire, there was a separate version unofficially referred to as the "Command variant" that contains room for ten to twelve TIE fighters, bombers, and interceptors. As a highly-trained Special Forces task group, Inferno Company receives advanced and experimental technology. Thus, the _Vorpent _is an early prototype of the Command-variant _Arquitens_. Considering their interceptors were modified to include cloaks and another engine, this is nothing to them.**


	2. Mission One: Tatooine

Chapter 2: Mission One: Tatooine

_The Vorpent_ orbited Tatooine, a shoddy transport flying out of the hangar to the desert planet. The clones would be in disguise, to prevent any Separatist suspicions, with the exception of Noctus, who would remain cloaked for the mission. In the corner of the shuttle, the clones huddled, discussing the upcoming mission in hushed, whispered tones. Uliia narrowed her eyes, reaching out with the Force to eavesdrop on their conversation.

"…follow the plan," Rhino whispered. "Don't let Commander Uliia find out the true story. General's orders."

_What? What the hell are they talking about? How dare they! Keeping secrets from their commander!_ The Twi'lek Jedi glanced up at her Master, Jiana's face expressionless as the surface grew nearer. _General's orders? What is Master Razhuli doing?_

"We're here." The door opened, and a stinging wind whipped into the shuttle as the clones and two Jedi filed out. Uliia looked around in awe at the sheer size of the Mos Eisley spaceport. Hundreds of people of all different species went about their business, the ceaseless chatter overwhelming.

"Come on," Rhino said. "We're meeting a spy in the cantina." They went in the direction of the cantina, clones scanning the area for threats. A few people whistled at Jiana, but sharp glances from the clones told them to back off. At the cantina, Jiana turned to Uliia.

"You're too young to come into the cantina, Uliia. Wait outside for us. Noctus is somewhere close by. If anything happens, he'll be there in an instant."

Uliia groaned, but listened to her Master. The clones and Jiana went into the cantina, and Uliia leaned against the wall in an alley across the street. A few minutes passed, then Uliia smelled alcohol and sensed someone behind her.

"Hey, pretty girl…" A Weequay, completely drunk, had been stumbling around, aimlessly wandering through the alley when he encountered the Padawan. "How much ya charge?"

"I'm not a whore, you creep! Get lost." Uliia turned her back, trying to ignore the drunkard, then a rough hand clasped around her mouth and yanked her back, the smell of alcohol overwhelming.

"Come on, baby, you're a Twi'lek." His other hand began wandering down her body as Uliia struggled against him. "Everyone knows Twi'leks are-" There was a crunch and a pained screech behind her, and the hands fell from Uliia's body. Gasping for air, she turned to see Noctus, red visor glowing, standing over the Weequay who was pinned against the wall by his vibrogauntlet, pistol pressed to the drunk's forehead.

"Do. Not. Touch. The. Commander." With every word, the dagger pressed deeper into the creep's shoulder, wringing out pained grunts. He yanked it out, shoving the Weequay down the alley. "Get out of here."

As the drunk staggered away, cursing, Uliia huffed as the clone cloaked himself once again. "What are you doing?"

"Protecting you, Sir."

"I don't need protecting. And why do you call me Sir? I'm a girl, you know."

"Well aware, Sir. It's in our programming to address everyone above us as Sir."

"I thought I was 'little girl', though?"

"When we're on missions, you're a Commander. Otherwise, you're a little girl. I mean no disrespect by it."

"Whatever." Uliia walked away, still sensing the clone behind her. "Why are you following me? Shouldn't you be in the cantina talking with the spy?"

"I'm protecting you, Sir."

"I'm a Jedi. I don't need protecting."

"Well aware of that."

"So go away!"

"Not happening."

* * *

Uliia spent the next few minutes stewing in anger until the rest of the team came out of the cantina. She immediately stomped over to her Master's side as the team left, following Rhino. "I swear, they only chose that clone to piss me off. Why won't he get it in his head that I don't need his protection?"

Jiana glanced over at a seemingly empty spot. "Noctus?"

"Just as you said, Sir. She was accosted by a drunk within five minutes. I sent him home after slicing him up a bit." Uliia glared at the spot, but Noctus didn't seem to care. "You know, Commander, you could have fought back any time." Her eyes widened, and she almost stopped walking. "I was waiting for you to hit him or do something, but you didn't, so I took over."

She didn't say anything. They continued walking in silence for a few minutes, then Falcon drew his pistol and ushered them into an alleyway. A squadron of super battle droids marched past, shoving people out of the way. Behind them, a tactical droid followed, flanked by two commando droids. "Be on the lookout for the Republic spies. They are around here somewhere."

"Not here, Falcon." Jiana put a hand on the clone's shoulder, encouraging him to holster his pistol. "Too many people. We'll have to lead them away."

"No time!" Quint pulled out his shotgun, blasting the super battle droid that had spotted them. The rest of the droids turned and opened fire. The clones ran down the alleyway as Jiana activated her green lightsaber, deflecting blaster shots back at the droids as Inferno Company retreated.

"Lead them outside the city!" Jiana followed the clones, routing the droids through an alleyway to the outer wall. Smokey threw a grenade, blowing a hole to the outside desert, and the clones ran through, taking positions on either side of the entrance as Uliia drew her lightsabers: dual tonfa-handled sabers. Jiana leapt through the hole, turning and slicing through a droid as they charged out of the city. The Jedi and clones attacked, lightsabers and blaster bolts filling the air. One of the commando droids leapt over the wall, swinging its vibrosword down at Noctus, who had uncloaked himself. He swung his gauntlet up, blocking the sword, and rolled, pulling the droid to the ground and flinging it into the side. Uliia saw it and swung, slicing its head off. Noctus nodded at her, and she grumbled, but nodded back.

Speedy and CT-4-8264 knelt on either side of the hole, blasting at any droid who dared exit the city. Falcon heard an engine behind them, and looked into the desert with his rifle's scope. Spotting a droid transport, he fired, hitting the engine. An explosion rocked the desert, a severed battle droid arm landing beside him. Jiana cut through the droids' lines, deflecting blaster shots back at them, then ducked as the other commando droid swung its sword where her neck had been moments before. A metal foot kicked her down, and she rolled over the top of the dune, blaster bolts missing her by mere inches. Three neatly placed blaster bolts slammed into the back of the droid, Rhino charging forward to shoot again. The hum of the vibrosword made his body instinctively recoil, the tip of the weapon leaving a small cut across the surface of his armor.

The commando leapt into the air to miss the dual lightsabers, backflipping as it swung its sword in an uppercut slash at Uliia. Suddenly, a shower of sparks burst from its chest as it landed on Quint's shotgun, a vibrodagger slung underneath the barrel like a bayonet. It craned its head around to glare at the clone and swung its sword, but the trigger on the shotgun clicked and the commando vanished in a cloud of sparks and shrapnel. A final snipe from Falcon, and the last droid was no more. The team let out a sigh of relief, which was cut off by an alarm ringing through the city. Above them was a massive Trade Federation landing craft, nearly two hundred meters long and packed to the brim. The ship began to descend, and Jiana brought her commlink to her ear.

"Bring _The Vorpent_ down to us now!" she yelled to the ship's crew. "There's a Separatist landing craft approaching! I need you to open fire as soon as you're in range. I don't know if there are Vultures in it, but we'll come up to you!"

"Copy that, General." Hovering above the atmosphere, _The Vorpent_ began its descent towards the landing ship as Inferno Company raced back to the transport that had brought them down. The clones, bar Noctus, threw open utility lockers in the back and threw their armor on, ditching the farmer disguises they had been wearing. Within minutes, the transport was landing in the hangar of _The Vorpent_ and the Jedi and clones rushed to their starfighters. Just as they launched, the hangar doors on the droid transport opened and a fleet of vulture droids flew out, beelining straight for the Republic cruiser. Inferno Company, piloting their modified interceptors, quickly engaged the droids, halving their numbers in the first few minutes as _The Vorpent_ opened fire with its laser batteries.

"Speedy, you got two on your tail!" CT-4-8264 swerved around, hoping to pick off the droids targeting his friend, when Speedy suddenly cut the engines. His fighter rapidly decelerated, the droids passing by harmlessly. He fired the ship back up and launched his torpedoes, leaving two fireballs as the only evidence of the vulture droids.

"Don't worry about me, 8264. I feel so alive!" Speedy laughed as he swooped around the droid transport, which was now returning fire with _The Vorpent_. Trigger and Jiana followed him, blasting at the transport's weapons as a few particularly brave battle droids leaned off the edges of the wings to shoot at the clones. As they picked off the remaining defenses, Uliia noticed the hangar door remained open.

"I'm going inside! Quint, Noctus, cover me!" The young Jedi swooped up, looping around as she swung towards the open hangar. The two clones followed after her, launching torpedoes into the hangar bay as battle droids panicked and ran. The three landed inside the ship, leaping out of their fighters and immediately ducking under a barrage of blaster fire. Noctus quickly disappeared as Quint threw a grenade at the super battle droids pinning him and Uliia down, charging as pieces of shattered droid landed all around him. As she fought, Uliia noticed a steady stream of blaster bolts coming from the shadows, expertly picking off any droid that got past her defenses.

"I've got this under control! Don't interfere!"

Uliia turned back around, only to immediately run into something. A droideka, fresh off the transport rack, had just uncurled, its shield flaring up.

"Commander! Get back!" Quint chucked an EMP grenade at the destroyer droid as the Jedi leapt back, batting away a hail of fire. The grenade bounced once, rolling through its shield and releasing a surge of energy that shut down the droid. As the two sighed in relief, nine more droidekas rolled in from the racks. They surrounded the two, blasters trained on the intruders. Quint set his shotgun on the ground, raising his hands. He motioned for Uliia to do the same, which she did reluctantly. As a super battle droid picked up their weapons, Quint noticed a small explosive charge suddenly appear on one of the droidekas. Another appeared on the one next to it, and they continued to appear down the line. _Must be Noctus sneaking around_. There was a click, and there was a ring of explosions all around the two. Noctus uncloaked himself, dropping from above onto the super battle droid and tearing off one of its arms with his vibroblade. He flicked something inside the arm, and a stream of blaster bolts shot out, slamming into the droid. It fell, broken, but when it hit the ground its remaining arm fired a shot at Noctus. The bolt struck the clone in the head, knocking him back.

"Noctus!"

"Sir!"

Uliia and Quint raced to the clone, but screeched to a halt as the commando simply shook his head, wiping his hand over his helmet.

"Relax. I coated my armor in a thin layer of the beskar. My it's blaster-proof and lightsaber-resistant."

"Damn, I wish I had some Mandalorian armor," Quint said, picking up his shotgun and tossing Uliia's lightsabers to her.

* * *

On the bridge of the transport, a battle droid swept bits of debris and broken glass off to the side, sighing as he watched the others actually doing something fun (to him, anyway). "There can't be anything worse than this, at least." The door opened, and the three Republic intruders ran into the bridge. "I was wrong."

Uliia's lightsabers flashed, slicing the poor droid in half as Noctus and Quint opened fire. The bridge filled with light, red and blue lasers crisscrossing the air while two green blades hummed as they danced through droid necks and blasters. It only took less than a minute for the bridge to fall silent, the only sounds in the room being Uliia's heavy breathing. "Did we get them all?"

Her commlink crackled to life. "Inferno Company, group up with me. We're gonna bring that transport down."

"Rhino, wait!" Uliia beckoned the two clones, and the three ran for the turbolift. "We're still inside the ship!"

"What? Why are you inside the ship? Get out of there!"

As the turbolift doors opened into the hangar, Uliia suddenly used the Force to push the two clones down as a battle droid, thought to be dead, fired a shot. Uliia pulled out her lightsabers, but the bolt struck her in the chest. The clones were stunned for a moment, then Quint grabbed the injured Jedi and rolled on top of her, protecting her as Noctus rushed forward. Dodging shots left and right, he kicked the blaster out of the droid's one remaining hand and threw it across the hangar by its head. He slammed his vibroblades into its chest, tearing the control unit out of its body and kicking the broken droid out of the hangar bay doors.

"Noctus! She's hit badly!" Quint grabbed a first aid kit from his utility belt, pulling the Jedi's top down enough to spray a bacta solution over the wound and pack it with gauze. "Help me get her in her fighter! The droid can fly it back to _The Vorpent_!" The two clones carried the unconscious Padawan to her fighter, carefully strapping her in. Noctus knelt before the astromech droid in the wing socket.

"Get her to _The Vorpent_, now!"

The droid chirped nervously, Quint hopping off the wing as the fighter rose into the air. He followed Noctus' ship out of the hangar bay and streaked towards the cruiser. "The Commander got hit!" he called over the commlinks. "We're retreating to _The Vorpent_! Destroy the transport and meet us in the medical bay! 8264, come with us!"

The medic instantly pulled a hard left, turning on a dime as he hurtled towards the cruiser. Behind him, a final volley of blaster shots and torpedoes erupted, and the droid transport sheared in half, the explosion ripping through the air as the lifeless vessel crashed into the dunes a few miles from the city. Jiana took one final look at the flaming wreckage before turning her starfighter around and flying to _The Vorpent_, where her injured Padawan lay waiting.

* * *

Meanwhile, Quint and Noctus, having already called ahead, were loading Uliia onto a stretcher, droids already inserting an IV drip into her arm. As the medical droids rushed to the infirmary, 8264's fighter landed behind them. Leaping out and casting his helmet to the side, the rookie clone took off after the medical droids. Quickly catching up to them, he reached into the medical pack he carried around, pulling out a vitals scanner as they rushed down the hallway. Bursting into the infirmary, 8264 sighed in relief as the scanner showed no immediate critical wounds. Removing his combat gloves and slipping on a pair of sterile ones, he set to work, removing the gauze padding and examining the wound with an unnatural precision. It was nearly on top of her heart, slightly below her left collarbone. The bolt hadn't penetrated all the way through her body, he instantly noticed. Rather, it appeared that instead of the energy dissipating naturally as it entered her body, it was abruptly stopped by something, as the wound had a clear, defined bottom in it. He held out a hand, and the medical droid instantly placed a set of forceps in his outstretched palm. Were it in its programming, the droid might have felt awe as the clone worked nearly as fast as the purpose-built droid.

8264 pulled a vibroscalpel from his toolkit and set to work removing the burnt, charred tissue around the wound. Smearing a bacta gel around the injury, he placed a layer of synthetic skin over the wound and swiftly sewed it onto the Jedi. "Bacta patches," he said to the droid, hand outstretched.

"In a moment, Commander." The droid was looking through the various cabinets and lockers in the room, searching for the supplies.

"Droid! Patches! Now!"

"This is a new ship, Commander. I am unaware of the locations of many medical supplies."

"That should have been the first thing you did!" As the clone yelled at the droid, Uliia groggily opened her eyes, lifting her head. The first thing she saw was a clone in orange armor yelling at a seemingly unfazed droid, then her head tilted to the side to see the rest of Inferno Company rush into the room.

"Commander!"

"Uliia!"

She sat herself up, frantically pulling the covers over her bare chest as Jiana rushed to her side. "Are you okay? Oh, I knew something was up when I didn't see you in the air with us! I should never have-"

"With all due respect, General," Quint interrupted, placing a hand on the distraught Jedi's shoulder. "The Commander saved my life. I owe her." Glancing up at the clone, Uliia nodded, looking back down.

"I just didn't want someone to get hurt because of me. That's not the Jedi way," she said quietly, almost a whisper. "It's not like I was scared or anything…"

"For fuck's sake, you stupid droid!" 8264 stormed over to the frantic medical droid, pushing it aside and throwing open the locker. He grabbed a metal box out of it, exasperated. "When I say get the patches, you don't open every FUCKING locker in the infirmary! There's a box labeled 'Patches' right in front of you! Just open the box and give me the FUCKING PATCHES!"

The infirmary was silent. 8264 turned around, gently pushing Uliia back down to the bed and placing the bacta patch over her wound. "You just stay there. You won't recover fast enough if you keep trying to move."

"But-"

"No. When I am in this room, I am a Commander. I have all authority in any medical regards. Just relax. You'll heal in a few days."

The clones all found seats so they could discuss the mission. "Hey, 'Patches'," Rhino called, waving 8264 over. "Get those bloody gloves off and come over here." The medic blinked at the name but nodded and pulled over a seat.

"Hey, I have a question." They looked over at Uliia. "How did you guys get your names?"

"Well, there are legends about a great horned beast called a rhino," the Major began. "They were basically a living tank, able to take a lot of damage and deal even more. I chose that as my callsign, and it stuck." Removing his helmet, Rhino revealed a tattoo of a bulky horned creature on his neck.

"Mine should be obvious." Quint pulled off his, too, following the rest of the clones. "My serial number is CT-5-5555. Five fives. That's where Quint comes from."

"Mine's pretty clear too," Speedy said.

"I got eyes like a falcon," the aptly named sniper said. "I can find a target no matter how far away it is."

Smokey patted his backpack. "I'm all about explosions."

"And I'm all about shooting," Trigger said.

All eyes turned to the only clone who hadn't removed his helmet, standing behind them.  
"Well, Noctus?" Jiana asked. "What about you?"

He was silent for a few moments. "It sounds cool." The clones burst out laughing at him, the Commando's finger twitching.

"Hey, Noctus?" Uliia asked, once the laughter died down. "Why are you so adamant about protecting me? And what was that I heard about not telling me the real objective of this mission?"

The clones looked at one another, and Jiana placed her hand on Uliia's shoulder. "The real reason we were sent to Tatooine was to eliminate a slave dealer. He was abducting children and selling them to the Separatists as slaves." Noticing the fear in Uliia's eyes, she embraced her Padawan in a motherly hug. "I know how… difficult, that topic can be for you. I decided it was in our best interest, and yours as well, for you to remain behind while we eliminated him."

Noctus stared in the direction of the Twi'lek Jedi, though she suspected he wasn't looking at her. Finally, after several moments, he reached up and pulled on his helmet. Beneath it, his face was so battered and scarred that she could hardly believe he was a clone. Aside from a long, jagged, angry red scar straight down the center of his face, there were patches of burnt skin dotting his face like craters, as well as a chunk of his jawbone missing, like something had taken a bite out of his face.

"The first mission with my commando squad after Geonosis was during the Battle of Ryloth. We tried to shelter the villagers during the airstrikes, kept them inside one building. I heard a sound outside, so I went to examine it. The moment I stepped out of the door a bomb hit the building. It killed my entire squad and all of the villagers. Except for one little girl. She was sobbing, holding the body of her mother as fires raged around her. Poor thing couldn't have been older than three or four, but she looked just like you, Commander. Blue skin, brown eyes… she was so innocent in all this. I would have taken on the entire droid army myself ."

"And now, I'm seeing this Twi'lek girl who looks exactly like her being drafted into a war that I was supposed to fight in. Do you understand how I feel? It's like the ghost of that girl come back to haunt me. I was made to protect people like her, and I'm damn well gonna do just that."

The infirmary was silent, the air heavy with repressed emotions. Noctus stood and walked away, muttering something under his breath as he slipped his helmet back on, vanishing from sight. For the clones, seeing one of their own so shaken up, so _beaten_ up, it terrified them. How could something like this happen to their brother? Is this what the war they fought so earnestly in was like? Was that how the universe repays their efforts?

* * *

**Author's note: I updated Noctus' background here because I rewrote his entire character from the ground up as I was working on these last few chapters.**


	3. Mission Six: Sullust

Chapter 3: Mission Six: Sullust

"Come on! The lava's coming faster than we expected!" A fountain of magma jetted over Jiana, the ground shaking as the volcanic terrain of Sullust boiled and churned. It had been a few weeks since the mission on Tatooine, and Inferno Company had been sent to defend a Republic factory on Sullust from a droid invasion. With Smokey, Trigger, and Falcon left behind as the last lines of defense, utilizing the factory's many weapons systems, the rest of Inferno Company was spread thin, fighting hard against the waves of spider droids, tank droids, and crab droids. The clones' armor had been equipped with advanced filters to siphon out the toxic gasses filling the atmosphere, and Jiana and Uliia were wearing oxygen masks.

"Inferno Company, fall back!" Firing a final salvo of blasts at a crab droid, killing it, Rhino turned and ran to a granite outcropping, the rest of the clones arriving within moments. "New plan. The volcano's more active than we predicted, which is going to make fighting these droids a hell of a lot harder. But, the droids aren't immune to lava. We can trap them on the crust over the Vulnac lava lake and destroy the ground beneath them. Trigger, you hearing this?"

"Loud and clear, Major. I'll get the howitzers ready."

"How are we going to get the droids onto the lake and then escape?" Patches asked.

"What if we used jetpacks?" Quint offered. "They manufacture them here at the factory, I'm sure they won't mind if we borrow a few."

"That just leaves us the problem of what happens if the droids don't take the bait," Jiana said. "What if they turn our plan against us?"

"All they've got are crabs, spiders, and tanks. None of those are built to think," Noctus answered. "There's got to be someone out there directing them. I'll go take out their leader while you lead them onto the lake." And with that, he disappeared, not even waiting to see if they agreed with his plan.

"I swear, sometimes I think he doesn't know he's not in charge," Uliia groaned.

"Well, he's the same rank as me, but since he's a commando he takes precedence," Rhino explained. "Commandos are usually supposed to work in four-man squads, but since he trained with Shadow Troopers he's used to working solo." An explosion from within the droid lines brought their attention back to the fight as the droids looked around, confused. "Damn it Noctus… Alright, Inferno Company! Move out!" He rose from behind the rocks, firing at the droids as Inferno Company followed him, returning fire as the droid army chased them. "Falcon, get us those jetpacks!"

"I'll do you one better, Major." The scout, armor smeared with ash and soot for camouflage, pulled up behind the clones in a repulsorlift speeder. "Hop in!" Blaster bolts exploding all around them, Falcon hightailed the speeder across the molten ridge, droids quickly giving pursuit. There was a jolt as something struck the speeder, then a figure uncloaked itself in the middle of the front compartment, revealing a black-clad clone trooper.

"I'm fine, keep going!" Noctus yelled, wincing as the call shifted a bruised rib. "Took out a tactical droid and two commandos, so those spiders and tanks are useless now." Raising his blaster over his head, he fired a salvo without looking, striking a tank droid's photoreceptor and causing it to crash into a squad of crab droids. "Even more than usual."

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about, Noctus, cause those bastards are supposed to be really tough!" Quint chucked a grenade, blasting the treads off a tank droid and stranding it. "I don't get how you make this look easy!"

"That's because you make it hard." Noctus stood up, slipping a scope and barrel extension onto his blaster and taking aim. Placing the bullseye on his target, he fired, hitting a tank droid's fuel cell. The resulting explosion sent shrapnel flying everywhere, striking the fuel tanks of the droids around it, sparking a chain reaction that spread to the rest of the line, creating a wall of wreckage that trapped the droids on the lava lake. "Trigger, the second we get off the lake, you send those droids to Hell."

"Copy that, Noctus. Standing by." The speeder whirred over the crust, the heat rising as it neared the edge. Then, it was off the rock and over pure, bubbling magma; one wrong move, one bubble in the wrong place, and the speeder and everyone on it would melt into nothing. The rear repulsor sparked, fizzling out as it overheated, and the rear of the speeder began to tilt dangerously close to the magma.

"Falcon, if this thing can go any faster, I'd appreciate it!"

"Relax Patches, I got this!" Spying a floating chunk of rock, he aimed for it, ramping the speeder off the lake and into the air. It came crashing back down just ashore of the lava, just as the speeder finally died. It caught on the rough ground and flipped, sending the soldiers tumbling to the ground.

"Trigger! Now!" At Rhino's command, the clone sent a signal to the eight cannons he had rigged together. Firing a combined salvo at the droids, the cannons cut a deep chasm across the floating crust over the lake, breaking it free of the shore and sending it floating aimlessly towards the center of the lake. Smokey, airborne in a spare Y-wing bomber, swooped low overhead, dropping his payload directly onto the makeshift raft the droids were trapped on. A great fountain of magma arced into the air as the bombs detonated, shattering the rock beneath the droids and sending them to a fiery doom.

"Patches, get over here!" Speedy was sitting down, clutching at his arm. As the medic rushed to him, already pulling out his medical kit, he instantly spotted a thin blade-like shard of volcanic glass embedded in the crook of the clone's elbow.

"Yikes, that looks painful."

"Ya think! Help me out here, will you?"

Flipping through his pack, Patches quickly retrieved a morphine injector, a set of pliers, a bacta gel, and a wrap. Unclipping the clone's upper arm guard, he quickly injected the painkiller and held up the arm, careful not to move the elbow. Manipulating the skin around the wound, he gripped the glass with his pliers. "On three, okay? One-" Before Speedy could tense up, he yanked the shrapnel from the clone's arm, bringing a string of swears from the scout. After a quick inspection to make sure the glass hadn't damaged any tendons, he spread the bacta gel over the gash and wrapped it up. In total, he had him fixed in under twenty seconds.

"Damn, you really earned that rank didn't you, _Commander_ Patches?" Jiana joked, helping Speedy to his feet. "We're lucky to have you with us. You get us back to fighting condition in no time."

"Just doing my job, sir." Giving a quick one-over of the rest of the team, he slipped his supplies onto his back and fastened the chest strap. "What next? It's not like Command to give us such a short mission."

"Next," Rhino said, "Is the hard part. Command wants us to take out the Separatist cruiser that brought them here. They specified sabotage."

"That means infiltration." They all knew what that would entail. "So we have to sneak aboard a Separatist cruiser, plant some bombs or something, then sneak out of there and blow it up without anyone seeing us?" Falcon twirled his rifle in his hand, annoyed. "Just have Noctus solo it again. That worked great over Raxus."

"Besides," Smokey added over the commlink, "Less people means less of a chance of detection; even better if they're invisible."

"Smokey, you and Trigger at the least will have to go with Noctus," Rhino said. "He's not a demolitions expert like you two. You guys will need to go and plant the charges on the reactor core."

"You'll need a weapon that's quieter than your blasters for a mission like this," Jiana said. "Uliia and I will accompany you."

"We're all going, except for Speedy."

"Patches, I'm not missing a vacation on a Separatist cruiser! You'll have to shoot me to stop me from coming!"

The medic's hand flew out, striking the clone on the elbow. Speedy grunted in pain, fingers trembling as a nicked nerve burned like fire. "Not with that wound. Get back to _The Vorpent_, and R-0B will fix the rest of your arm. Tell Remi to stay out of the cruiser's sight." On board _The Vorpent_, R3-M1 was a technological masterpiece. An upgraded R3-series astromech, he served as the ship's Admiral, piloting the ship and controlling its weapons and internal affairs. Some of the officers on board felt odd taking orders from what was basically a rolling trash bin, but since the droid technically outranked them they usually did what they were told. He had instant communications with the starfighters the clones and Jedi used, and could remotely pilot them if the main astromechs were damaged or destroyed.

* * *

Ten minutes later, ten starfighters lifted into the air, one peeling off from the group and speeding across the landscape. The remaining nine blasted through the atmosphere, streaking through the sky until they came within sight of the Separatist cruiser. Activating their cloaking devices, the fighters proceeded unnoticed through orbit until they were floating just above the cruiser. Uliia and Jiana slipped oxygen masks over their faces and concentrated, feeling the Force flow through them.

They had trained for weeks to do this, and as the clones opened their fighters and floated down to the ship, the Jedi followed, pressurizing their bodies with the Force. Landing softly outside a docking hatch, Rhino beckoned the others to him as he pulled a small shield generator out of his pack and stuck it to the side of the ship. Surrounding the hatch, it filled with air as the specialized device matched the interior environment of the ship. Rhino held a small computer up to the hatch controls, and there was a hiss as the door opened into a ventilation shaft.

"Perfect. Let's go." Dropping into the ship, Rhino felt a rush of adrenalin spike through his blood as he quickly pressed his arms and legs out to the side, halting himself just above the probe droid monitoring the ventilation pipes. Holding one fist above him, signaling for the clones to stop, he beckoned to Noctus with his spare hand.

The stealth expert reached into his pack and retrieved a small chip, which he passed to the ARC trooper. Steadily lowering himself, he slipped the chip into a data port on the droid. Its eye fizzed as it frantically beeped, then it fell silent, floating as it was before. Dropping down fully into the vent, he pushed the little droid and it slowly floated away, bumping into a few walls as it aimlessly wandered the vent system.

"False data chip," he said to Jiana, whose eyebrow was raised in a wordless demand for an explanation. "Whatever signals that droid was sending out, they won't see or hear anything but empty pipes." With that, Inferno Company minus one set out through the pipes, crawling through the cramped tunnels in dead silence for several minutes until they came across a vent leading into a room basked in a deep red glow. With a quick scan of the room, Noctus soundlessly slid the vent panel to the side and cloaked himself.

Jiana started to follow, but Quint held out a hand, stopping her. He gestured into the room, instructing her to watch. A probe droid suddenly floated into view, making Jiana's hand instinctively clench around her lightsaber, but she sighed as it bumped harmlessly into a pillar, receptor eye blank. Two more floated in, bumping into various things as the reason for their seeming drunkenness uncloaks himself, waving them in while signing a message with his spare hand. _NOISE DETECTORS. CAN'T DISABLE. BE SILENT._

With a nod, Rhino and Falcon enter the reactor room, blasters trained just in case. Smokey and Trigger quietly rush over to the reactor, slipping mines out of their packs and sticking them around the fusion cores. As the two set their charges, the rest of the team was inspecting the room, making sure there would be nothing linking them to the sabotage. Just as the last charge was set, Noctus heard the tell-tale hiss of a door opening.

Quickly signaling to his squadmates, he vanished from sight, and the moment the last saboteur was hidden two MagnaGuards walked into the center of the room, electrostaffs buzzing. While the explosives were hidden enough to dissuade a quick search, they weren't hidden so well that they would hold up to a thorough examination.

The metallic footsteps of the droids sent sweat dripping down the faces of the hidden clones and Jedi, silently praying for the droids to leave. The MagnaGuards stopped just in front of the control panel Rhino and Trigger hid behind, glancing around the room. There was a quiet clank that seemed deafening in the silent reactor room.

The droids' heads instantly snapped to look at the ventilation grate that Noctus had just put back. Looking at each other and nodding, one of the MagnaGuards turned back to the door to leave, but the other headed straight for the vent. Ripping it from the base of the wall, the MagnaGuard crouched down and crawled into the vent, the glowing red light of its chest slowly fading into the darkness. Once the room was empty, the hidden saboteurs let out breaths they didn't know they were holding and quietly snuck out of their hiding spots.

"If there are MagnaGuards on this cruiser," Jiana said once all the clones were huddled up, "that means either General Grievous or Count Dooku are aboard."

"Since that one droid is in the vents, we gotta find another way out of this ship before it blows," Patches said. "We might run into whichever one it is."

"I say fuck stealth," Trigger interrupted, "Let's just make a run for it."

"Have you ever tried to run through a Separatist cruiser full of battle droids?" Rhino asked. "It's not as easy as you think it is, let alone if Grievous or Dooku is on board."

"Grievous is a tough bastard," Noctus growled. "If he's here, then there's a high chance we're going to die."

"Speak of the devil…" a grating voice behind them breathed, sending ice flooding through their veins, "…and he shall appear." Slowly turning around, their eyes shone as four lightsabers ignited, swirling like deadly helicopter blades. "Or rather… I will."

* * *

Igniting her lightsaber as Grievous approached them, Jiana took a defensive stance, subconscious willing her body not to shake in fear. The normally unflappable Zeltron felt a shiver run up her spine as Grievous eyed her lightsaber hungrily, and though hidden by his mask, she knew there was an evil grin behind those hollow yellow eyes. Uliia ignited her lightsabers and stood next to her Master, spinning them before pointing them at the Separatist General, shivering as a grating laugh croaked from the demolished throat of the former Kaleesh warlord.

"A Padawan, and one with TWO lightsabers?" he laughed. "This will be very enjoyable for me." He leapt forward, one lightsaber still whirling through the air to block the blaster bolts fired at him by the clones, and swung down with all his might. Jiana felt pain rocket down her wrist as his lightsaber came crashing down through her defenses, the force from the blow nearly breaking her wrist.

Beside her, Uliia was faring no better, arms shaking as she struggled to hold off his assault. Swinging in for another attack, the General ducked a hail of blaster bolts sent by the clones and thrust his four blades like spears, intending to skewer the Jedi. Uliia flipped over the sabers and swung down, managing to nick his shoulder. Grievous took a long, hard look at the sizzling cut as Jiana twirled away from his blades, then roared like a beast unlike anything Uliia had ever encountered, kicking her Master away and leaping towards the Padawan.

Swinging her sabers up at the General, she managed to intercept his chops with arcing blocks to the side, rolling under a kick as he snarled and spun to deflect Jiana's incoming blow. Quint threw a droid popper at the cyborg, causing the General to short out long enough for Uliia and Jiana to retreat to a safe distance.

Growling like a caged beast, Grievous launched himself at the clones, scattering them as his lightsabers hummed overhead. The cyborg felt three expertly placed bolts slam into his back, and he whirled around, swinging his lightsabers into the empty space. Noctus uncloaked himself, the sight of the clone bringing a sneer to the General's hidden face.

"Ah, the clone who likes to play hide-and-seek! I could have sworn I killed you on Saleucami, when you dared to attack me head-on," he taunted.

Noctus lifted his helmet off his head, the angry red scar bisecting his face catching Grievous' eye. "You'll never get the chance again, Grievous. We're going to kill you."

"And I thought the Jedi wanted me alive."

Noctus narrowed his eyes, matching the General's glare. "I don't."

Slipping his helmet back on, Noctus vanished, a hail of bolts rushing the cyborg as he swung his lightsabers, nearly striking the invisible commando. Whirling around to block a clone attack, he flung a lightsaber above his head to deflect Uliia's assault and knock the Padawan into her Master.

Grievous ran out of the room, following Noctus' footsteps as Falcon fired a bolt directly into the General's shoulder socket. His upper left arm fell off in a shower of sparks, and Grievous roared as he kicked the door at the clones, knocking them down. As Rhino sat up, pistols ready, he heard the metallic footsteps rapidly disappearing down the hallway as Grievous chased after Noctus.

"Rhino, we need to get out of here before the ship blows!" Smokey yelled, grunting as he popped a dislocated finger back into place. "Let Noctus handle this!"

"It's too dangerous for one clone to take on General Grievous!" Jiana countered. "We need to get off the ship with him!"

"General Razhuli," Trigger said as he reloaded his blaster, "with all due respect, Noctus is the best soldier here, hands down. He's already encountered him once and survived. We need to evacuate now, before we all go down with this ship."

"Master," Uliia pleaded, "he can handle this. Let's go." Without even waiting for a response, the Padawan rushed into the hallway, Quint and Patches right behind her. Sighing and shaking her head, Jiana motioned for the rest of the clones to move out before falling in behind them.

"Remi," she called to her commlink, "send our fighters to the main hangar bay. Tell them to stay cloaked until we arrive."

* * *

Noctus was tossing electromines as he ran, turning the hallways into a labyrinth of electricity. The spiderlike General pursuing him crawled along the walls, dodging the deadly electrical traps set by the clone. Rounding a corner, Grievous found himself in an atrium, the corners cloaked in darkness. There was a shower of sparks as the control panel exploded, sealing the blast door and trapping Grievous in the room.

"You are a fool, clone," he sneered, igniting two lightsabers and squinting into the darkness. "Trapping yourself in a room with me."

"No," Noctus' voice rang from behind the cyborg. Turning, Grievous swung his sabers down directly into Noctus' helmet, intending to cut the clone in two. The sabers bounced off of his beskar helmet in a shower of sparks, the green and blue light clashing against his pitch-black armor.

"You're trapped in here with me."

The cyborg flung one of his lightsabers at the clone and rushed him. He ducked under the lightsaber, but took a devastating kick to the chest, sending him sprawling across the room. He pushed himself up, but a clawed foot clenched around his chest, and Grievous jumped in the air, spinning his leg above his head as he slammed the clone down to the unforgiving ground. The commando landed in a sitting position, and all the force of the slam and the cyborg's foot pressing down on him acted as a sledgehammer through his spine.

Noctus felt liquid fire shoot through his spine and leak into his torso, the crushed nerves screaming in agony as they wrenched a strangled grunt out of his chest. He was flung across the room and landed in a heap, limbs shaking as a cold sweat broke out across his body as he panted, every breath sending white-hot nails through his nerves.

Grievous stomped over to his body, laughing. Clenching one leg in his arm, he swung the clone into a pillar, grinning as he heard the satisfying _crunch_ of ribs shattering. He swung him again and again, beating the clone against every surface of the room. Finally, he grabbed the clone's wrists in his one left arm and his ankles in the other two and, lifting the clone above his head, began to pull, intent on tearing Noctus in two.

His eyes stung as the pressure on his spine multiplied, sending rivulets of white-hot pain through his body. He struggled against the cyborg's grip, but each little movement sent his heartrate skyrocketing as his spine screamed in protest. There was an immense pressure down his back, and he yelled in pain as-

_CRUNCH_

There was a loud popping sound through Noctus' back and the pain instantly vanished, a massive rush of adrenaline taking its place. In an instant, Noctus strained his core, tucking his knees to his chest as his vibrogauntlet activated, slicing through Grievous' one remaining left hand.

The Separatist general roared as it clattered to the floor, sparks and hydraulic fluid spouting from his stump as he flung the clone to the ground. Noctus grabbed his rifle from where it lay on the floor and stumbled for the window, Grievous right behind him. Taking one last glance over his shoulder, he fired upon the window.

He was sucked out into space as the air evacuated the room, Grievous' arm locked around a pillar. Growling, the cyborg dug his clawed feet into the floor and pulled a commlink from his waist.

"Raise the deflector shields! We've been breached!"

There was a purple glow outside as the shields activated, Noctus slipping out at the last moment. The air pressure slowly equalized inside the room, and Grievous snarled as he took his two remaining lightsabers and shoved them through the blast doors, slowly cutting them open. As he stomped into the hallway, there was a rush of air and the ship lurched, a deafening explosion echoing through the corridor. His commlink chirped.

"General," a tactical droid said, "I believe the intruders blew up the hyperdrive reactor. The ship is listing, and the reactor core is becoming unstable at a rapid pace. I calculate there is a 92.693% chance that it will detonate within the next three minutes."

With an enraged growl, Grievous took off down the hallways, bursting into the rear hangar bay where his starfighter sat waiting. Crawling inside, he smashed his left stump into the launch button and the ship blasted out of the hangar, disappearing into hyperspace.

* * *

"General! We have to go!" Smokey yelled over the commlink.

"Not without Noctus!"

"General," Rhino said, "he may be a commando, but in the end, he's still a clone. We're meant to be expendable. Jedi aren't. We need to move, _now_."

Jiana sighed, and closed the hatch to her starfighter as they lifted off and flew out of the hangar, one empty fighter following behind. She turned to look at the flaming cruiser behind her, and-

"I ain't that expendable, Patches."

Noctus was floating in space outside of the cruiser, drifting aimlessly into the cosmos.

"Noctus! Remi, send his fighter over to him."

The droid chirped, and the empty fighter broke away from formation as Inferno Company circled back around for their comrade.

"Our suits are pressurized, General," Noctus explained as his starfighter pulled up beside him. "We clones can survive in space for a short time."

"It's so if we get thrown from a ship, we can survive until a rescue ship can pick us up," Falcon clarified. "We're only limited by how much oxygen our rebreathers can recover before they get saturated."

Jiana sighed, slumping back in her fighter. "That's a relief. I thought we lost you back there when you decided to go play tag with General Grievous."

"It wasn't a very good idea, I admit." Noctus winced as he sat in his seat, the position putting pressure on his spine. "He damn near tore me in half."

"Noctus, I'm going to have to put you on medical rest for a few days, buddy." Patches was looking at the vital scanner in Noctus' ship. "Sensor's telling me you got a concussed spinal cord all the way down your back and torn muscles all around your midsection. You're not moving anywhere until I say so."

* * *

In the medical bay, Noctus hovered just above a bed as R-0B tightened the last bolt on his new back brace.

"You'll need to wear this for at least four days," the droid said as the clone slowly settled back down. "And that only deals with your spinal damage. The torn muscles will take at least a week and a half to fully recover. I am going to inform Patches to recommend you take at least two weeks of bed rest."

The clone grumbled as the droid went back to his recharging station and plugged in, powering down. The Jedi Knight standing at the foot of his bed tapped her foot in annoyance, glaring at the clone.

"Can I help you, General?"

"Not like that you can't. Why the hell would you think it was alright to take on General Grievous ALONE?!"

"It's my duty as a clone to do everything I can to fight the Separatists. If that means fighting the droid army's general so that my squad can escape, then that's what I'm going to do."

Jiana sighed, turning to leave, but paused at the doorway. "I've never lost a single clone that's been assigned to me, Noctus. Don't be the first."

* * *

**Author's note: **

**I think I'm going to do more time skips like this one. I just don't have enough time or patience to write out every single mission these guys will complete in the months left in the Clone Wars, and I know you will get bored really fast if I do that. So I'm going to write the most important and influential missions Inferno Company will partake in, which should be around seven to ten chapters total. After that... well, you know what happens ;)**


	4. Mission Thirteen: Alzoc III

**Author's note:**

_**Before you read this chapter, I'd like to say a few things. **_

_**First of all, I'd like to apologize to anyone that's been waiting for an update on **_**Slaughterhouse III:**** Doomsday**_**. I've had a lot of writer's block on that **_**_story, and I really don't like how it's playing out right now. So, it's going to be on hiatus for a while._**

**_Second, this chapter was delayed quite a bit because my raw file in Microsoft Word got corrupted, and I lost the entirety of this chapter; over 8,000 words. I rewrote it as best I could, but I had to cut some things, and I also rewrote some scenes I felt were iffy in the original edit. Again, apologies for the delay._**

**_Third, I will be responding to a few questions that I've been asked about this story. Those will be at the end of the chapter. If your question didn't get answered, I apologize. Without further ado, enjoy!_**

* * *

Chapter 4: Mission Thirteen: Alzoc III

"Falcon, you look stupid."

"Zip it, Smokey."

For clones, snow missions like the one Inferno Company was currently on were easy stealth missions. Not only do droids (more specifically, their hydraulics) not hold up well in the sub-zero temperatures, but for most clones, their snow uniforms were perfectly camouflaged. _Most_ clones, anyway.

"You know, Falcon, some of us purposely gave up our unique armor designs in order to blend in more," Rhino said. "Of all clones here, you should have been the first."

"Not like there's any trees here." Quint glanced over his shoulder at the scout. "There's no reason for you to be wearing jungle camo on a snowtrooper uniform."

"Hey, I like it! It's part of who I am! Besides," The scout pointed over his shoulder at the commando behind him. "He's not even in cold weather gear, _and_ it's black! Get on his ass and off of mine!"

"Part of the stealth technology in my armor," Noctus spoke up, "is thermal regulation. In order to mask my thermal signature, my suit has a heating and cooling system that keeps the inside of the suit at a constant temperature while changing the thermal radiation to match that of the ambient environment."

"Can we stop talking about all this technical bullshit?" Speedy asked. "It's hurting my brain."

"They let you talk about speeder bikes when we were on Bothawui," Jiana pointed out, her voice slightly muffled behind the thick parka she wore. "As long as they're happy, I don't care what they talk about."

"You know General," Trigger began, "I like how you treat us like actual humans and not like we're these mindless organic robots. It's a good change of pace."

"You served under Master Ki-Adi-Mundi, right?" the Zeltron Jedi asked. "I thought he was reasonably fair with his clones."

"With the exception of Generals Kenobi and Skywalker, and Commander- _former_ Commander Tano," Quint piped in, "all three of whom I have worked with, most Jedi seem to treat their clones like they're droids."

"There was also General Krell on Umbara," Patches said. "But he ended up working for the Separatists, so he doesn't really count."

"He was a jerk even back when I was in basic training," Uliia said. She sneezed and wrapped her hood tighter around her lekku. "Couldn't they have sent us somewhere warm? These are really sensitive."

"Command sent us here for a reason, Commander." Patches, at the lead, held up a hand to halt the rest of the company, kneeling down. "And I think I just found it."

Ahead of the clone, something big was moving, shuffling through the blizzard. A quick once-over told Patches that the creature was maybe a little over two meters tall, and even through the whipping snow the clone could see two red eyes scanning the horizon.

"Two eyes," Falcon muttered. "Not one of the Talz. Maybe this is one of those beasts that's been terrorizing them."

With a gasp, Jiana stood and stepped forward towards the creature, smiling.

"General! Get back!" Rhino said, just loud enough for the Jedi to hear him. But it was too late.

The beast's glowing red eyes locked onto Jiana. It roared and charged at her, arms raised. Speedy, Falcon, Rhino, and Trigger instantly raised their blasters as it barreled down on Jiana.

"No! Don't shoot!" she yelled, holding a hand back as if to tell them to stand down. The beast grew closer and closer, until-

It picked up Jiana and embraced her, spinning her around as she laughed. "Master, it's so good to see you again!"

"Master!"

"Master?"

Uliia and the clones had slightly different reactions to the enormous creature, which they could now see was covered in shaggy white fur. It set her down, growling and baring sharp teeth in a wide smile. It was at this point that the clones noticed the positively _massive_ lightsaber hanging from a bandolier wrapped around its chest.

"It's a Jedi?!" Patches exclaimed. "What even is it?"

"Oh, pardon me." Jiana turned to the clones, gesturing to the Jedi behind her. "Inferno Company, this is Jedi Master Grazhok. He was my Master when I was a Padawan."

Falcon squinted his eyes at the furred Jedi. "He… is he an albino Wookiee?"

**"Oho! Not many people recognize my species, due to my unusual appearance."**

"Well, I did serve on Kashyyyk for a while a few months ago."

"Hold on a minute Falcon," Speedy said, "You actually understand this thing- Jedi?"

"What part of 'I served on Kashyyyk' did you not understand? The 41st works with indigenous populations; that means we have to learn their native languages."

"Master Grazhok, it's good to see you again!" Uliia briefly pulled her hood down to show her face to the Wookiee before bundling up again. The furred Jedi roared in delight, embracing her in a bone-crushing hug.

**"Uliia, look at you!"** he growled once he set the Twi'lek back down, **"You've grown so tall since I last saw you!"**

"It _was_ four years ago, Master."

**"Do you think you can hold my lightsaber yet, little one?"** he joked. Seeing her confident expression, his face fell serious and he unhooked his lightsaber, holding it out to her.

Seeing it close up, the clones were able to truly grasp just how enormous the Wookiee's lightsaber was. The hilt was made of Brylark wood and was almost a meter long. Uliia grabbed it in both hands and lifted, grunting under the sheer weight of the device, but managed to lift it into a battle stance.

**"Now try to turn it on."**

The Padawan flicked the switch on the lightsaber and the blade burst forth, over two meters long. It jerked violently in her hand and she yelped, dropping it as it switched itself off. Her cheeks flushed as the Wookiee laughed, her eyes narrowing when she noticed her own Master chuckling behind the enormous Jedi.

**"The kickback is quite strong indeed, Uliia! One day you'll master it!"**

"Alright, it's great that this happy little reunion is going on in this blizzard," Noctus grumbled, "but can we get on with the mission?"

**"A little impatient," **the Wookiee Jedi growled to Jiana.

"He's a bit rough, but when push comes to shove, he loves this team more than he admits," she said with a grin.

"General, what are our orders?"

"Glad you asked, Patches." She held up a small hologram, displaying a massive shaggy beast with two curled horns sprouting from above its ears. "The Talz sent a plea for aid to the Senate when a recent scientific survey team landed here a few days ago. They reported these creatures attacking and eating their torsk herds. The scientific survey observed one of these beasts and confirmed it was a wampa, a large carnivorous creature from the sixth moon of the Hoth system. They are not native to here, and it is currently unknown how they got to Alzoc III."

"How many have they reported?" Rhino asked.

"The scientific team couldn't give an exact estimate, but they observed a pack of nearly two hundred camped a few dozen kilometers from the main Talz village."

The clones were silent, the bitter wind howling around them. "I'm sorry, General, I must not have heard you right," Speedy said, smacking the side of his helmet. "Did you say two _hundred _wampas?"

"Unfortunately, you were not mistaken. Chancellor Palpatine suspects this may be a Separatist plot to wipe out the natives in order to gain access to the vast mineral reserves on this planet."

"Sounds like something they'd do," Quint said. "It's insane enough to be them."

"The Talz have been scouting around and have located the wampa camp. Their leader wishes to speak with us before we begin the extermination."

Inferno Company (plus one albino Wookiee) stepped through the village gate, hundreds of eyes watching them. A few of the Talz stiffened upon seeing Grazhok's white fur, but relaxed upon seeing the lightsaber hanging over his back. One Talz wearing some sort of crown greeted them from a raised platform, standing before a throne.

"Falcon, the droid."

The clone nodded to Jiana and reached into his survival pack. He pulled out a small spherical droid that hovered in the air between the Talz chief and Jiana. As the chief began to speak, the droid automatically translated his words into Galactic Basic.

_"I thank you for coming to our humble home. We have been under a constant threat by these strange creatures for nearly two moon cycles."_

"Chief Sha-Korvook, we are honored to have been contacted by you," Jiana said as she bowed. "The Republic is aware of your species' desire to be isolated from the rest of the galaxy and honors your decision. But we will always help a people in need, no matter where they are. It is my duty as a Jedi, and my soldiers' duty as servants of the Republic."

"Servants?" Trigger muttered to Patches.

"Just go with it."

_"Several of my scouts have recently returned from their mission. The monsters are approximately one day from here in the direction of the sunrise. We shall be praying for your safe return."_

Jiana bowed once again and turned to the village entrance. "Come on. Wampas hunt at night, and by the time we get to the camp it'll be close to midnight."

**"We can use my ship to get there faster."**

"Master Grazhok," Uliia said, "I'm not sure we can all fit in a starfighter."

The Wookiee smiled. **"Who said anything about a starfighter?"**

* * *

The open top speeder skated across the snowdrifts, wind whipping through the cabin and through the gaps in the clones' armor. Even the Wookiee, fur clad as he was, shivered slightly in the blistering wind. The only one seemingly unaffected was Noctus, currently pissed off at the two bodies pressing against him.

"General, Commander, I fail to see how leaning on me makes you any warmer."

"The radiator on your survival pack is blowing hot air over us…" Jiana moaned, pulling her cloak tighter around her. Uliia did the same.

"So warm…"

"It's dangerous. I won't be able to react quick enough in an emergency. And if you dressed like normal Jedi instead of what you normally wear, you'd be warmer."

On the bench across from them, Speedy and Trigger glared at the commando. "Fuckin' prick," the scout muttered. "Complaining about two gorgeous women draping themselves all over him."

"Lucky bastard," Trigger agreed. "And then telling them to dress more modestly. Come on, it's the only upside to these assignments."

"Knock it off, you two." Rhino's hands came down on the clones' helmets, knocking them together. "Especially about the Commander. You know what her childhood was like. Besides, the ride's over."

The wind slowly eased off as the speeder decelerated, eventually settling down beside a tall snowdrift. Falcon crawled to the top, peering over the top with his electrobinoculars. "I see a bunch of them near that hill… there's a cave behind them that they're gathered around."

Trigger crawled up next to him. "Can't I just take them all out with a pulse disruptor?" he asked as Falcon handed him the binocs. "It'd be quick."

"It also violates several Republic laws on animal cruelty," Jiana interrupted. "I believe Master Grazhok has a better plan. Falcon, translate for the rest of the clones."

**"We need as many clones as we can spare to stay back here and pick them off from a distance," **the Wookiee began as he pulled up a holomap. **"Specifically, I recommend Falcon, Noctus, and Rhino, using his rifle. Trigger can stay behind to provide suppressive fire if the wampas try to charge the position. Once the outside is clear, the rest of us will go into the cave to take out the rest of them."**

The clones moved into position, the three snipers trained their rifles downwind while Trigger staked down a turret for his chaingun and the infiltration team equipped their infrared scanners. With a nod from Jiana, Falcon hovered his reticle over a wampa's chest and, closing one eye, squeezed the trigger.

At the first volley from the sharpshooters, the wampas panicked. Downrange, dozens of the furred beasts scrambled for places to hide. Some of them dove into the maw of the cave, but a few ventured out into the snowy plains in curiosity. The second and third bursts gave similar results, but on the fourth one Rhino merely grazed one of the larger wampas. Its head snapped to the snowbank, eyes dilating upon seeing Falcon's green armor contrasting the snow. With a roar, it charged, garnering the attention of the wampas near it. They quickly joined in, the snowdrifts suddenly filled with snarling, bloodthirsty beasts barreling down on the clones and Jedi.

"Heads up!" Trigger called, flicking the safety on his cannon and letting out a burst of blaster bolts that cut through the wampa charge, downing several of the enormous monsters. Patches and Speedy crawled up next to the snipers, providing more covering fire for the slower-firing clones while Noctus detached the extended barrel and scope from his blaster, rolling down to kneel beside Trigger as the heavy gunner reloaded his cannon. One wampa managed to make it through the field of blaster bolts, only to be violently stopped by a blast from Quint's shotgun, the paratrooper flicking out his bayonet to ram into another wampa's belly.

Ducking below a wildly swiping paw and unloading a dozen rounds into the offending wampa, Noctus almost stopped to watch Grazhok in awe, the white-furred warrior grappling a wampa with his bare hands before unclipping his lightsaber and swinging the hilt like a club, the beast collapsing like a broken puppet. Its blue blade leapt forth, humming through the air as it cut through another wampa, the snow beneath its owner stained dark red. He snarled as he threw a Force-assisted punch to the throat of yet another wampa, beating through their ranks with sheer strength and brute force.

Seemingly the opposite of her master, Jiana swirled through a group of wampas, movements fluid and light, as if it were a dance. Though the knee-deep snow slowed her movements, she was still agile enough that none of the wampas could even approach her. She swept between them, lightsaber flicking out just enough to slit their throats or pierce their chests. It was so clean, so effortless… compared to the clumsiness of the wampas, her movements were hypnotizing, drawing from her natural elegance and finely mixed with traditional Zeltron dance to form an almost impenetrable wall of plasma between her and the wampas.

_They fight so differently_, Noctus thought as he rolled under a wampa's tackle, vibrogauntlet slicing clean down its body. _General Grazhok wears his opponents down with heavy offense, while General Razhuli forces her opponents to wear themselves out trying to break her defenses. Wonder what her Padawan's strategy is-_

Said Padawan hadn't even pulled out her sabers; Uliia stood frozen, blood splashed across her body from the wampa Noctus had just gutted. Her eyes were distant, a slight tremor on her lip, breaths coming shallow and rapid.

"Commander! What are you doing?" Noctus yelled, firing a burst over Patches' shoulder. "Snap out of it!"

Jiana paused for a brief moment upon hearing the commando's call, glancing over her shoulder as she slammed her blade through one final wampa. Her eyes widened as she saw the horrified expression on her Padawan's face. "Oh, no… lay her down! Keep her safe while she rides it out!"

As the last few wampas still outside of the cave struggled against the clones, Noctus holstered his blaster and grabbed Uliia's arm, but the teen didn't move, her body frozen with a terror Noctus knew wasn't related to the wampas currently trying to maul their squad. Her hand seized his wrist, and even through his armor he could feel her fingers lock tight around his arm, knuckles beginning to turn white as she unconsciously squeezed down.

"Noctus!" Speedy yelled, bringing his blaster around. "Drop, now!"

The commando abruptly wrapped his arms behind Uliia's back and head and swept his right leg sideways, knocking her feet from beneath her and rolling on top of her as a wampa slammed its thick claws down into his survival pack, sparks showering down onto the duo as Speedy and Trigger unloaded dozens of blaster bolts into the furred beast. It gave one final roar, then collapsed on top of Noctus, who quickly propped one arm below him to prevent Uliia from being crushed. As Rhino and Falcon dragged the dead beast off of the duo, Jiana rushed to her Padawan's side, the Twi'lek instinctively latching her arms around her master and burying her face in her lap.

"General, is the Commander alright?" Patches asked, already slinging his medical pack to the snow beside them. "Should I give her a tranq?"

"Yes, please do." The older Jedi sighed as she stroked her shivering Padawan's head, squeezing her hand as Patches stuck the tranq into Uliia's neck, eliciting a small yelp from her. "I never should have brought her on one of _these _missions, how could I be so _stupid_?" she muttered, frustration etched across her face.

"Is she going to be alright?" Smokey asked, kneeling down. "What even happened to her?"

"She'll be fine, Smokey, just give her a few minutes to calm down," Jiana sighed. "She has severe panic attacks at the sight of blood. She had… a very traumatic childhood."

"She's been with us for three months, and we've never seen her like this," Falcon murmured to Speedy. "We should have seen her like this at least twice," he joked, earning a snicker from the BARC trooper. Rhino swung his elbows backwards, catching the two in the throat, and scowled beneath his helmet.

"That was a terrible joke, Falcon," he berated, "and I never want to hear anything like it again. I will not hesitate to have you transferred back to the 41st, where you can go and sit in a mud hole all day."

"That's not even biologically correct," Noctus said as he inspected his damaged survival pack. "I spent almost five months on Ryloth, and-"

"Noctus," Trigger groaned, "please don't finish that sentence."

It was several minutes before Uliia had recovered enough to sit up on her own, frozen tears staining her blank expression as she pulled her knees to her chest. "Alright men," Jiana said from beside her Padawan, "I'm staying behind with Uliia. You all go with Master Grazhok into the cave to take care of the rest of the wampas."

"No," Uliia said in a soft voice, "you need to go with them. They'll need two Jedi with them. I'll stay by myself."

"I can't go," Noctus grunted, holding up his damaged survival pack. "This won't last long in a fight, and without it I have no power for my helmet, my suit heater, or backup power cells for my blaster. I'll stay behind with the Commander." Jiana looked to Uliia for approval, and the Padawan gave a small nod, gaze unbroken from the snow before her.

"We won't be long. Stay safe." With those words, Jiana, Grazhok, and the rest of Inferno Company set off for the cave, eventually disappearing into the white as the wind picked up. Noctus spent a few minutes making adjustments to his pack with a small tool kit, and eventually groaned and retrieved a roll of tape from a pocket on the side, slapping a few strips over the gashes and locking the pack into place on his back. He tapped a few buttons on his forearm and sighed quietly as the thermal regulator began filling his armor with warm air. He glanced over his shoulder at Uliia, watching as the Twi'lek shivered and tucked her frozen lekku deeper into her hood. Rolling his eyes and grumbling to himself, he walked over and sat down beside her, making sure the radiator on his survival pack was pointing at her. She leaned against him, taking in the warm air that flowed through her parka and warmed her frozen core. A few minutes of silence passed, broken only by the howling of the wind, before Noctus spoke up.

"So, you mind telling me what the hell happened back there?"

"I knew that was coming…"

"You freeze up in the middle of a fight against bloodthirsty monsters, cry like a baby for ten minutes-"

"Shut up! If you knew the things I've been through-"

"Well, I don't! Please, enlighten me!"

Uliia sighed, pulling her hood further over her face and resting her forehead on Noctus' armored shoulder. "I don't know, Noctus, I just don't want to. It scares me…"

Noctus tilted his head enough to see her out of the corner of his visor. "All of us have painful memories. Rhino can't deal with Octoparra droids because of Christophsis. Speedy hates staying still because his squad was ambushed and massacred during a lunch break. You were nearly killed on Patches' first mission ever, and now he always triple checks us before and after every assignment. You know how annoying that is."

"And what about you?" Uliia asked, glancing up at the commando. "Are you scared of anything?"

Noctus said nothing for a few minutes. "Ryloth," he finally said. "I can't even look at a map of that damn planet without remembering the horrors I saw during my missions there. Even looking at Twi'leks makes me uncomfortable. I can only see their faces waiting in terror for the next bombing raid to finally put them out of their misery."

"What about me?" Uliia shifted slightly to get a better look at the clone, trying to gauge his expression beneath the helmet. "Are you uncomfortable around me?"

"I have… mixed feelings about you." Seeing her indignant glare, he continued. "You remind me of Ryloth, and all the suffering its people have endured. You remind me of that orphaned girl cradling her mother's dismembered body after a bombing raid. You remind me of how helpless the Twi'leks were."

"I am not helpless!" Uliia yelled, straightening up.

"How many times have I saved your life in the three months we've been together?" Uliia closed her mouth, avoiding Noctus' piercing eyes. "This is our thirteenth mission, and I've saved you on nine of them. You're a damn Jedi, for crying out loud! It's not supposed to be my job as a clone to protect you, but I do it anyway!"

This time, it was Uliia's turn to stay quiet for a while, dipping her head in a mixture of shame and embarrassment. "Why are you so devoted to me? Why do you insist on never leaving my side?" Noctus glanced away from her, drawing suspicion. "Noctus, what's going on?"

"I'm not supposed to tell you."

Uliia glared at his attempt to deflect her query. "As Commander, I order you to tell me."

"I only take orders from Generals."

"You don't even listen to Master when she orders you around!" Uliia responded. "You just go off and do whatever you want, as long as it gets the job done!"

"Technically still obeying her orders, if not to the letter."

Uliia groaned. _This damn clone…_ She pouted, leaning back against his radiator. "…If you answer me, I'll tell you why I panicked during the fight." Silence. "You asked me earlier, and I tried to ignore it."

"Fine." Noctus shifted a bit so he could look at Uliia. "Before our first assignment on Tatooine, the General gave me a very specific order. She knew about my trauma from Ryloth, and your trauma from your past, and knew we probably wouldn't get along."

"And we didn't, at first," Uliia chuckled. "You kept calling me 'little girl' and I would argue with you for hours…"

"Yes, General Razhuli figured you would be like that. She told me that she was concerned that you wouldn't be able to handle the stresses of these kinds of difficult missions, and she wanted someone who had experiences with similar sufferings to help you mature and be a friend. She ordered me to keep you safe when she can't."

"…So, you're only my friend because you were ordered to?" Noctus could see the hurt begin to swell in her voice, and he quickly tried to rectify the situation.

"Only at the beginning! I voiced my objections to the General! I told her it would be a bad idea, and now here we are!"

"Oh, what, you didn't want to be my friend, but you went along with it because you were just following orders?" Uliia's voice rose louder as she turned to fully face the clone, scowling. "And now you're stuck in a one-sided friendship that only I want? That only I care about?"

"You don't know the whole story-"

"I know what I need to know!" she yelled. "I know that I'm the only one in this whole squadron who actually cares about you! I'm the only one who stands up for you when you piss off the other clones! I'm the only one who's actually tried to be nice to you, and for what? So you can ignore everything and choose to hate everyone? So you can pretend to tolerate me while you betray my trust and spy on me for my own Master?"

"So I can learn that I don't need orders to be your friend!" Noctus tore off his helmet, scarred face twisted in frustration. "The General gave me those orders months ago, and it was supposed to be for only one time! I've been doing this of my own accord since Tatooine!"

Noctus' commlink blared up. "Noctus, we need you down here now!" Jiana's voice crackled. "We found a Separatist outpost deep in the cave and we're pinned down by droidekas! I need you to come give us cover fire while we regroup!"

"Be there in a minute, General." The commando slipped his helmet back on and stood up, glancing back at Uliia. "You want in on this?"

She stared up at the clone, still scowling, then sighed, a small chuckle escaping her lips. "As long as you promise to take the shot to the chest this time," she said as she rose, the duo running towards the cave entrance.

"That was on you," Noctus responded as he halted at the maw of the darkness, flicking on his helmet light before cautiously raising his blaster and slipping through a side tunnel. "Clone armor can take a shot or two, and mine is a bit tougher. You're lucky the shot missed your heart."

"At least it was nothing permanent," she said, reaching down to her lightsabers as the sounds of blaster fire gradually rose in volume, echoing through the caves. "Aside from the scar, of course."

The tunnel slowly widened, and Noctus dropped to a knee, motioning for Uliia to do the same. The tunnel they had taken led them to the top of the chamber where Inferno Company was trapped, nearly ten meters below the two. Fifteen droidekas were clustered around several stalagmites, firing at the clones scattered behind them. Further down the cave, Noctus could see boxes of supplies and weapons, with several battle droids standing alert.

"I'll take the droidekas," Noctus said, slipping an ion pulse grenade into his hand. "You sneak around back and wipe out the guards by that station. Once I get finished, we'll come back you up."

Without even waiting for a response, Noctus tossed his grenade and dropped into the chasm, sliding down the wall and ducking behind a stalagmite. Glancing over his shoulder, he spotted two green flashes of light swirling through the cavern as Uliia sliced through the droids at the supply lines.

"Noctus, where you been?" Rhino called from further up the line, ducking a stray blast. "You missed all the fun!"

"I don't know, Rhino, this seems pretty fun to me." The commando raised his blaster and took aim at a droideka, unleashing a hail of blaster bolts. The droid's shield held up, but slowly began to overheat, a few bolts finding their way inside the deflector and punching holes through the droid within. The remaining droidekas turned their attention to Noctus, shredding the stalagmite he was crouched behind.

With the droids distracted, the remainder of the squad sprung from their hiding places, the Jedi lifting the droidekas into the air and slamming them back down to collapse their shields, and the clones grinding the defenseless droids to scrap metal with a hail of blaster bolts. Grazhok heard a yell and looked to the back of the cave, only for Uliia to come bowling into him, wincing as she rolled onto her back.

"Watch out for those grappler droids!" she called as a team of the menacing brutes stomped their way towards the clones. Rhino leaned back to dodge a swipe from a mechanical claw and fired a shot point-blank into the droid's chest. A smirk spread beneath his helmet as it slumped to the ground, then was wiped off by a punch to the chest, sending the ARC trooper sprawling with a grating _crunch_.

"Patches, tend to the Major!" Speedy yelled, leveling a field of cover fire as the medic darted to the fallen clone. While Patches pried Rhino's chestplate off, Trigger and Quint charged the grapplers with their guns blazing, slowly cutting through their ranks. Jiana's green blade flashed through the darkness, spiraling rapidly across the cavern as its wielder swirled through the droids, sparks showering her as she sliced the final droid across the torso, the only sounds still echoing through the cavern being the hum of her lightsaber and the crackling of shorting electronics.

* * *

_Back on the _Vorpent

"Alright, Commander," Patches said, setting his scanner on a table next to the exam table. "You have minor bruises and scrapes, but otherwise you're completely fine."

"I don't get it," Rhino groaned, bandages wrapped all across his chest. "The one wearing the least armor out of all of us is the only one who's uninjured. I call cheating."

"What are you talking about?" Speedy asked as the medical droid stitched up a gash on his leg. "The General doesn't have any either."

"Yeah, but at least she's got some cushioning on her ribs."

Jiana, ice pack on her ankle, raised an eyebrow from across the room. "That's one way to look at them. However, though my species is known for its promiscuity doesn't mean I appreciate those types of comments. I am, first and foremost, a Jedi Knight-"

"Which means you're not supposed to have those urges, right?" Falcon rolled his eyes. "Clones aren't supposed to have those feelings either, but they still got brothels for us at the bars."

Jiana stood up, stretching. "Uliia, you're soaked in blood. How about you go shower before the guys go? I'll catch up in a moment."

"Alright." Her eyes felt heavy, exhaustion beginning to overcome her as she stumbled through the hallways to the squad's shared room, discarding her blood-stained clothing and grabbing a towel as she walked into the showers, stifling a yawn. Making her way to one of the many showerheads along the wall, she turned the heat all the way up, a sigh escaping her mouth as the water began to cut through the dried blood staining her blue skin.

"Evening, Commander."

Uliia shrieked, covering herself as best she could as she whirled around. On the wall opposite her, Noctus stood under his own stream of ice-cold water, facing the wall. "What the _kunta_ are you doing in here?"

"Showering." The Twi'lek scowled at his noncommittal answer, but slowly turned back to her own shower.

"Just don't look over here, alright?"

"Not like there's anything to see…" the clone murmured. Uliia whirled around, about to give the commando a piece of her mind, but froze as she took a closer look at the clone's back. Of all the clones, Noctus was the most infuriatingly uptight one. He was always in his armor, even while he slept (usually with his blaster in hand), and Uliia preferred not to look at the clones when they weren't in their armor anyway. But, with one room for a ten-person squad, it was unavoidable. Besides, any scars they had were often the subject of many stories told, and a surprising number of the clones had scars on their chests from getting shot or sliced by grappler droids or whatever. They were proud of them, as they saw scars as a symbol of strength and triumph. Over time, Uliia had become accustomed to their often-exaggerated tales of glory, and had even come to appreciate them, as well as the symbolic meaning scars held for the clones. That being said…

"So many scars…" she whispered. Noctus froze as Uliia's fingers traced a long one down his spine. "Where was this one from?"

"Grievous, a couple weeks ago," he answered stiffly. Though he pretended to deny it, Noctus cared very much for Inferno Company and, as a byproduct of his trauma from Ryloth, he held a certain soft spot for his Twi'lek commander, helping her in whatever way he could while still pretending not to care. As another souvenir from Ryloth, he was always jumpy without his armor on. The two emotions fought one another in his mind, whether to push her away or let her do whatever she was doing. He elected for the latter.

"What about this one by your neck?" Uliia asked, standing on her toes. "It looks like a burn."

"That one was from a mission on Malastare. The droids used a local creature that secreted a powerful acid as guards around their base. I neglected to account for the fact that while droids can't smell, those creatures could. Very, very precisely."

"And that one on your face?" Uliia stood directly in front of him now, brown eyes locked onto the jagged, pitted slash across his face. Noctus subtly took a step back before responding.

"That was Saleucami, the first time I encountered Grievous. It's why I had my helmet coated in beskar." Uliia's eyes lit up.

"Is beskar better than phrik? I was debating which metal to use in my lightsabers, since they're guard shotos and they lay parallel to my arms, the handles are made to be lightsaber-resistant to give better defense in duels, and I had to go with phrik because there wasn't any beskar I could find, and phrik is good in its own way, but the problem is it tends to get hot after a few hits from a lightsaber and it's difficult to duel for long times because it'll burn my arms; but how does beskar work? It doesn't heat up from a lightsaber blade, I know that, but is it any more durable or-" She clapped a hand over her mouth, turning red. "Sorry… I'm super interested in lightsaber design, and I tend to go off like that…"

"I can see that," Noctus said, eyebrow raised. There was silence between the two, and Noctus' stomach began to drop as Uliia's eyes widened and her blush spread. _Oh, come on, you're just noticing how close you are now?_

"You two seem to be getting along quite well," Jiana said from behind them, stifling a laugh. Uliia yelped and fell back, and Noctus fixed his unwavering gaze on the older Jedi, ignoring her blatant lack of modesty.

"I take it one of the others said something dumb?"

"You don't know the half of it, Noctus," she grumbled, throwing a nasty look at the empty room outside the showers. "I swear, those three…"

"Speedy, Trigger, and Falcon?" the clone guessed. "Each of us clones have our own minds, and they got the dumbest ones. They made everything about our bodies identical, but the mind just can't be replicated, I guess."

"Everything, huh…" Jiana's eyes drifted downwards for a moment, then back up to Noctus' deadpan face. "I don't know, you all look different to me. Especially you."

"Those are scars. That doesn't mean we all didn't look the same back on Kamino."

"Perhaps…" Jiana walked to Uliia, who was crouching on the floor, blushed red face buried in her hands. "Come on, I'll help you scrub the blood off."

Uliia nodded, walking with her Master to her showerhead, not daring to make eye contact with Noctus. There was silence for a few more minutes as the two Jedi washed themselves, then Noctus spoke up.

"Zygerria?"

Uliia glanced at him in confusion, then blushed as she realized he was squinting at the brand on her backside. "Hey, quit looking!"

"You got in _my_ personal space and asked me about a bunch of my scars." Noctus crossed his arms, glaring at her. "Seems unfair to me."

"Um, Noctus," Jiana interrupted, "that's a sensitive topic for her, you should-"

"No, he's right." She turned to look at Uliia, who sighed. "Besides, it's like the guys always say: scars are a symbol of triumph over something meant to break you down. They show that you're stronger that whatever tried to defeat you."

Jiana smiled warmly at her Padawan as she took a slow, deep breath before speaking. "On Zygerria, the slavers would brand children to mark us as property. The location varied based on what we were being trained to do as a slave. For example, my sister was branded on the stomach, to show that she was to be a cook for her owner. A Togruta boy there was branded on the chest, to show that he was meant for manual labor. But being marked… where I was," she said, wincing, "meant I was supposed to be a-a _personal attendant_. I would have to do anything my owner demanded: serve drinks, clean up the house, or…" She shuddered. "But Master Grazhok and Master Razhuli saved me from there, and it's all behind me now. I'll never have to go back there, and I'll never be a slave to anyone ever again."

Noctus was silent for a minute. His eyes never left Uliia's, and though his face remained impassive, she could see his eyes soften up. "Well, I would say that makes you one of us. Good story. Better than any of Trigger's, anyway."

Uliia smiled softly, then her face fell. "I guess I never ended up telling you why I freaked out earlier, did I-" The sound of clone chatter cut her off as the remainder of the team entered the barracks just meters away, shedding their armor at their bunks as they readied to shower for the night. Jiana caught Noctus' eye, tilting her head to the side with a raised eyebrow as she slowly raised her hand to cover her chest. The commando sighed, nodding as he wrapped a towel around his waist and stepped out into the barracks.

"Noctus, you been hogging all the hot water again?" Trigger joked. "I know how steamy you like your showers to be."

"I prefer them ice cold, thank you."

"He was joking Noctus, jeez." Quint shook his head with a smirk, rolling his eyes. "You gotta work on that, man." The paratrooper moved to go past Noctus into the showers, but the commando didn't budge. "Hey, what gives?"

"Come on, Noctus, we know we told you to learn how to make jokes, but this isn't funny," Speedy said. "Let us in. We're exhausted."

Noctus shook his head slowly. "The Commander and the General are in there right now. You'll get your chance once they're finished."

"Oh come on you prude," Falcon grumbled. "There's nothing we haven't seen before in there. We know what a woman looks like."

"If we're talking about the Commander, there's nothing to see anyway," Patches joked, to a chorus of snickers from the other clones. In the showers behind them, Jiana clapped a hand to her Padawan's mouth to stifle the string of curses she sensed were about to be unleashed.

"Ignore them, they're trying to rile you up on purpose. Let's just finish up and get dried off."

After several minutes of the clones arguing, the two Jedi finally emerged from the showers, wrapped in fresh robes. "Thank you for that, Noctus," Jiana said as she settled down on her bed, the clones giving Noctus dirty looks as the door to the showers closed behind them. "Normally this wouldn't be an issue since we let you guys shower first, but…"

"Eh, it's fine. None of them care enough anyway." He was interrupted by laughter and loud chatter from within the shower. "See?"

"So, Master," Uliia said looking down from her top bunk, "Did we receive any new assignments while we were out?"

"No, I don't believe we did," the Zeltron Jedi said as she glanced at her communicator. "Apart from the _Vorpent _being due back at Coruscant for maintenance and a resupply, we're free."

"It's been so long since we've had a decent break from all these missions," Uliia sighed as she flopped back, letting her lekku dangle over the side of the bunk. "What do we want to do?"

* * *

**Post-author's note:**

**Alright, I have a few questions to answer here. If any of you reading this have any others, please let me know.**

_**Q: What type of lightsaber combat do Jiana and Uliia use?**_

**A: I'll go ahead and include Master Grazhok in here as well, because I like him. **

**Let's start with the Wookiee: Grazhok mainly utilizes Form VII: Juyo. This is a type of lightsaber combat focused almost entirely on offense and power, using raw physical strength and heavy, repeated attacks to rapidly wear down your opponent. As a Wookiee, he is a natural at this, using a combination of physical attacks such as punches and using his lightsaber hilt as a club, and fast, powerful swings from his lightsaber. **

**As Grazhok's Padawan, Jiana quickly learned that she couldn't directly block an attack from her Master. Thus, she uses a combination of both Form II: Makashi and Form V: Shien. Using the fluid motions and principles of the dueling-centered Form II and the defense-oriented parries of Form V, she redirects attacks away from her instead of catching and stopping an oncoming lightsaber. Combined with traditional dances from her home world of Zeltros, she uses her speed and agility to keep her as close to her opponent as possible while also staying far out of reach of their weapon.**

**Uliia, being a dual-wielder, uses the Jar'Kai form of lightsaber combat, personalized slightly to accommodate for her lack of physical strength and her use of guard shotos over regular blades. She usually fights with rapid swings with the blades extended out to give her a long reach for attacking, and with precise blocks with the blades running down past her elbows for defense. Fighting with her dual guard shotos is very difficult, so she's a bit clumsy sometimes.**

_**Q: When does this take place in the Clone Wars?**_

**A: Inferno Company was founded in late 20 BBY; as of the mission on Alzoc III you just read about, it is the beginning of 19 BBY, several days before the end of the Clone Wars.**

_**Q: Are we ever going to learn about what happened to Noctus on Ryloth?**_

_**Q2: How will Order 66 affect Inferno Company?**_

_**Q3: Will the clones betray Jiana and Uliia?**_

**A: I'm going to answer all three of these questions together, as they are all related. Without giving too much away, Noctus has mentioned Ryloth a few times, and it can be inferred that he had a horrifying experience there. We're still two or three chapters out, but I will say that the story will end where Noctus' nightmares began: Ryloth. As for Order 66, we saw in Season 7 of The Clone Wars that Order 66 could not be denied by the clones, no matter how much they cared for their Jedi Generals. **

**On that note, see you in the next chapter!**


	5. Day Off (Bonus Chapter)

Chapter 5: Day Off (Bonus Chapter)

"I've finished my report to Master Yoda, so we have the rest of the day to ourselves," Jiana said as she and her squad strolled through the halls of the Jedi Temple. "You boys are free to do what you like. The _Vorpent _leaves at 0500 hours tomorrow, so be back before then."

"I can already tell where Noctus is going," Patches muttered to Rhino. "He's going to go back to the _Vorpent _and sit there all alone because he doesn't know how to have fun."

Said commando shot a dirty look at the medic but stayed silent. "Alright, squad dismissed," Jiana said, the clones saluting and splitting off. "Have fun!" the Zeltron Jedi called. "Uliia, what are your plans for the day?"

"Me, personally?" Uliia glanced down the hall. "Making sure he actually enjoys himself." Following her Padawan's gaze, Jiana caught sight of Noctus peering out a window, as if he were checking for a sniper. She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Are you sure you can handle that? You know him better than any of us; he wouldn't willingly have fun if I held my lightsaber to his throat."

"Lucky for me I've got two," Uliia said, winking as she jogged down the hall, signaling for the clone to follow her. Watching the duo turn a corner and disappear from sight, Jiana sighed, shaking her head with a smile.

"Oh, she's got it bad."

* * *

_GAR Weapons Depot 1138_

The inventory droid glared at Falcon, disdain hidden behind its impassive metal face. "Don't tell me you broke your rifle again. I won't get you a new one."

"I didn't!" the scout argued, holding his rifle out to show the droid. "I just feel like it's not as effective a weapon as I want it to be!"

The droid gave him a look, then turned to Trigger. "And why are you here as well?"

He shrugged. "Want a bigger blaster."

The droid sighed, then beckoned the two to follow him as he walked back through the warehouse, hundreds of rows of shelves full of all types of weapons and ammunition. He turned down a row of longblasters, scanning the dozens of blasters. "For a long-range weapon, we have this selection here. A popular option for clones in the Outer Regions is this one," he said, picking up a long, narrow blaster. "The IQA-11. Quite a long range with decent accuracy from distances of up to seven kilometers. This example was equipped with a barrel extension that dramatically raises the muzzle velocity and has a multifocus scope."

"No, no," Falcon shook his head, brushing past the droid. "I need something big, something powerful. I need a tank buster."

"Then I have the perfect blaster for you." The droid set the rifle down and walked further down the aisle, struggling under the weight of the blaster it retrieved. "This is an NT-242, modified with a disruptor shot. Capable of punching through a Separatist AAT from six kilometers and annihilating a super battle droid from nine. Of course, you have to be able to actually be that accurate to do so, but it is capable of doing such feats. It is very slow firing, and one ammo pouch holds enough charge for ten shots."

Falcon took the rifle from the droid, staring it up and down in awe. Nearly two meters long and with a scope the size of a carbine, it weighed almost twice as much as his previous blaster. It was a heavy, unwieldy, ungodly slow rifle. It would take an absolute idiot to want to use it as a scout.

"I love it!"

"Very well, I shall add the cost to your squad's total. And what about you?" the droid asked Trigger. "What kind of blaster do you desire?"

"I want something that can shred any droid down to scrap metal," the trigger-happy clone said. "It has to be able to deal a lot of damage in a very short amount of time."

The droid thought for a bit, then beckoned the two to follow him. "I will take you to the testing range," he explained. "There is a prototype blaster that you might like. We _have_ been looking for test subjects." Passing through a set of doors, the droid picked up a small, blocky carbine. "This is a new weapon in development for Special Forces. It is called the TL-50 Heavy Repeater. Feel free to take it for a test."

Trigger took the weapon from the droid, feeling the immense weight of the object. Stepping forward to the firing range, he shouldered the blaster and took aim at a deactivated battle droid. His finger tightened around the trigger, and a hail of blaster bolts shot forth, decimating the dilapidated droid in under a second. The recoil from the burst jerked his shoulder back, his right foot automatically sliding backwards to brace himself. His finger slipped from the trigger, a tendril of smoke wafting up from the barrel. Trigger glanced down at the blaster, unconvinced.

"Sure, it's got an incredible rate of fire, but the bolt spread is about as big as Falcon's ego." Ignoring the glare from the sniper, Trigger held the blaster back to the droid. "It's terribly inaccurate, it drains all its ammunition in like three seconds, and-"

"Do you see this button here?" the droid interrupted, pointing to a button on the front grip. "Press it and pull the trigger again." Trigger raised an eyebrow, sighing as his raised the blaster to his shoulder once more. Pressing the aforementioned button with his left thumb, he took aim at what little was left of the battle droid and squeezed the trigger.

For a moment, there was a high-pitched whine as a bright blue orb of plasma swelled from the muzzle of the blaster, then a burst of energy as the projectile shot forwards, arcing upwards before slamming down to the ground in a bright flash of light, the resulting shockwave nearly knocking Falcon and Trigger off their feet. A sharp hiss emerged from the blaster's vents as steam swirled lazily upwards. Trigger lowered the blaster and turned to the droid, a maniacal grin stretched across his face.

"Hell yes."

* * *

_79's_

The dark atmosphere and flashing lights did nothing to ease Noctus' tension. Neither did the thumping of the bass, or the scantily clad women dancing with the other clones. His glare was locked onto the flustered Padawan sitting at the bar beside him, dark blushes streaking her cheeks and the tips of her lekku as she avoided eye contact, staring down at the glass she gingerly held in her hand; for the better part of an hour, neither one had moved, nor talked.

"You ready to give up now?" the commando said. Uliia flashed him a frown before her blush intensified and she averted her gaze once more.

"I'm staying here because I know if I leave, you'll leave. Go out and have fun with your brothers."

Noctus raised an eyebrow, unmoved. "And leave a fifteen-year-old Twi'lek alone in a bar full of drunk men? Not happening."

"I can handle myself!" Uliia finally made eye contact with the clone she'd been awkwardly avoiding, her annoyance far outweighing her embarrassment. "I'm a Jedi, for crying out loud! They won't do anything to me."

Noctus leaned forward until his face was just inches from hers, unblinking. "Do you even know where you took me? 79's is a bar for clones to get drunk and fool around with gorgeous women. To them, you look the same as those dancers." He gave her minimalist outfit a once-over, eyes narrowed. "They'd probably think you were another kind of service here."

Uliia's mouth dropped open and she was about to argue back when she paused, mulling over his words. _Damn it, he's right_. Uliia was no fool- she knew exactly what kind of reputation her species had. The fact that of the dancers mingling with the clones, almost a third of them were Twi'lek didn't help either. She sighed, folding her arms on the bar and resting her face in them.

Hearing Noctus' armor clack together as he moved, she tilted her head to the side to see the commando staring down a trio of clones who were leering at her. He motioned to her lightsabers, then slowly shook his head, glaring at the clones. The clones took another look at Uliia, this time seeing the sabers on her belt and the braided beads hanging from her headdress. Nodding in apology, they ventured back into the throngs of people around the dance floor, vanishing into the crowd.

"I don't need you hovering over me all the time," she mumbled, turning her face away from him once more.

"I have my orders from the General. Like it or not, I won't leave you alone in a place like this."

"Yes, you will."

"No way in hell."

"Yes, you will!" Uliia argued, glaring at the stubborn clone.

"Perhaps I can be the tiebreaker," a sultry voice piped in. Noctus abruptly stood up at attention as Aayla Secura sat beside Uliia, smiling. "At ease, soldier. It's been quite some time, Uliia."

"Hello Master Secura," the Padawan said as she straightened up. "I thought you were still in the Outer Rim."

"We ship out for Felucia tomorrow," the older Twi'lek said, holding up a hand to flag down the bartender droid. "The Confederacy has blocked off the Perlemian trade route, so the 327th is being sent to retake the system. I figured I'd give the boys some time to relax and enjoy themselves."

"That's what I've been trying to do with this one," Uliia groaned, lazily pointing a thumb at Noctus. "He just doesn't know how to have fun."

Aayla looked Noctus up and down, thinking. "Republic Commando… with that black armor, you must be part of Omega Squad, correct? I don't recognize you."

"I served with the Shadow Troopers before I was transferred to Commander Nodulu's force," Noctus said. "I have worked with some of your men before in the Ryloth Garrison after the Liberation." Aayla's eyes lit up.

"Oh, do you know Lieutenant Umbra? He served under Master Di before he died and was transferred to the 327thafter he was made an ARC trooper." Noticing the recognition in the commando's eyes, Aayla turned in her chair. "Umbra, come here! There's someone I want you to meet!"

Two clones came to them, one clad in shock trooper armor and staggering slightly and the other wearing black armor with yellow stripes down the arms and legs, and a yellow skull decal painted on the black helmet he held in his arm. Noctus stood as the two black-clad clones shook hands, grinning. "Good lord, I cannot believe you ended up in 79's!" Umbra joked. "How'd the most antisocial clone in the GAR end up here?"

"Not like I had a choice," the commando said, nodding his head towards Uliia, who gave the ARC a polite wave. As the clones went on about old battle stories, Aayla gave a knowing smile towards the younger Twi'lek.

"I would say it is unbecoming for a Jedi and a clone to have such a close friendship, but I am in no position to say anything." A flurry of panicked emotions crossed Uliia's face, and the older Jedi laughed. "Oh, relax. I won't say anything to your Master, assuming she hasn't noticed by now."

Uliia averted her gaze, the tips of her lekku blushing a deep purple. "N-noticed what?"

Aayla leaned closer, taking Uliia's hand in her own. "I have a very similar relationship with Commander Bly. We have each other's backs at all times; we protect and save each other… But things like that don't seem so special, no?" Aayla flashed a glance at the Commander in question, speaking with Commander Fox near the door. "It goes much deeper than just fellow soldiers. We are best friends; nothing can split us apart." She straightened up, taking a sip of her drink. "To be honest with you, it's not that uncommon. Master Kenobi and Commander Cody are good friends and have repeatedly trusted their lives in the other's hands. Master Skywalker trusts Captain Rex almost as much as he trusts that astromech of his. Padawan Tano…" she trailed off for a moment, lost in thought. "From the very moment they met, she and Rex were nearly inseparable. I've seen the way those two interact, especially on Quell and Maridun. In many ways, I saw myself in her, just as I see myself in you."

Uliia was silent for a while, staring down at her hands. "Is it really so bad?" she finally asked, looking up at the older Jedi with hurt in her eyes. "Is it wrong for me to be so close to Noctus? To want to be friends after this war is over?"

Aayla rested a hand on the distraught teen's shoulder, glancing around for a moment before leaning close. "I don't see it as a bad thing. Neither does Bly. I'll let you in on a secret, Uliia. But you can never tell anyone else about it, alright?" The serious look in Aayla's eyes sobered Uliia up a bit, and she nodded, leaning closer. "After the war is over, I'm leaving the Jedi Order."

"What?" Uliia gasped, a little too loud. Ignoring the raised eyebrows from the clones, she continued in a hushed voice. "Why would you leave the-" It dawned on her as she paused, recalling her entire conversation with the older Twi'lek. "Bly…"

Aayla nodded. "I'm leaving the order, and Bly is going to leave the Army. If he can't legally leave by then, we'll run away together. The both of us have been fighting too long. Everything… the battles, our feelings, it's all been so long. We suspect that our assignment to Felucia will be our last. Separatist forces are wearing thin and evacuating nonessential positions all across the Outer Rim. Once we're done fighting, we'll both resign from duty and run away."

Uliia's head was swimming. Never in her life had she expected Master Secura of all Jedi to leave the order; she was one of the greatest role models for the female Padawans at the temple, alongside the former Ahsoka Tano. The whole reason Uliia dressed the way she did was inspired by Aayla's athletic abilities, unrestrained by traditional Jedi robes. Being Twi'leks, they had an innate connection, a unique language only they could understand. Sure, she loved her own Master, but there were some problems that only a fellow Twi'lek could help. "Where would you go?" she finally asked, trying to brush away her shock.

"We don't know," Aayla admitted. "I have friends in Coruscant that are willing to loan us a shuttle so we can escape, but that would only be a temporary solution. Perhaps we could move back to Ryloth someday." She chuckled, glancing up at Noctus, who was still talking with Umbra. "Did you know that clone there helped save my village during the firebombing?" Seeing the shocked look in Uliia's face, Aayla gave a sigh. "He doesn't seem the kind of person to talk about that sort of stuff. Truth be told, I didn't know it was him until he mentioned that he knew Umbra. They helped take care of my friends and family and protect them from the droids."

"Ryloth is the reason he's so distant," Uliia admitted. "He saw things there that hurt him, deep inside. I've felt it. The pain in his heart every night, the fear… It's overpowering through the Force." She rested her hand on Aayla's, letting her emotions flow through her and into the older Jedi. "I want to help him. I can't stand seeing him hurt like that. But I don't know what I can do. I don't know how to heal him."

"Healing from a wounded soul is very difficult, Uliia," Aayla said softly. "Unfortunately, you can't do anything about it. Your caring can temporarily distract him from his suffering, but it will still be there. To heal a broken spirit, it takes time and acceptance. Do you know what exactly hurt him so?"

Uliia racked her brain, thinking back to the few times Noctus truly opened up to her. "During the bombings, he came across a little girl sobbing over her mother's body. She had protected her daughter, shielding her from the blast, but was killed by the bomb." Aayla's eyes widened in horror as Uliia shivered. "He said that the sight of that poor girl haunts him. Covered in her mother's blood, weeping and holding the broken body of her, the suffering of this poor innocent girl… She was a Rutian Twi'lek, just like you. Like me. Every time he looks at me, all he can see is that little girl kneeling in the wreckage…"

Aayla was silent, a burning pit sinking through her stomach. Now that she knew what she needed to look for, she reached out through the Force, finding Noctus' signature easily. With a short breath, she closed her eyes, entering his mind.

The surge of emotions nearly flattened her; the helplessness he felt during the Battle of Ryloth, the agony of the little girl's tear-streaked face, the devastating scent of death and decay as the bombs detonated through the villages, the searing wail of the _Hyena_ bombers as they pulled around for the finishing strike…

But there was something else there. Aayla hadn't felt its presence in any other clone besides Bly. Rising over the pain and torment, there was an overwhelming tide of loyalty, of love, of protection, all curling over the ball of hatred and misery… with a single wisp flowing through the Force, swirling through the universe until it merged with a second, coiling through the vast sea of emotions and encircling the young Twi'lek sitting before her, protecting her from the terror and darkness within his mind.

Aayla cut the connection with the Force, feeling the tears threatening to run down her face. Forcing them to stay, she squeezed Uliia's hand, giving her a faint smile.

"I'm certain he can be saved. More than he already knows. But to do so, he would have to suffer. He would have to go back to where it all began, to the place where he lost all hope. Only once he finally forgives himself will he be free of his torment."

"Back to Ryloth?" Uliia asked. "Maybe once the war is over, we can run away… like you and Bly. I know how much he hates Ryloth and refuses to speak about it, but I know I can convince him."

After about fifteen minutes of conversation, Umbra finally realized he never introduced his drunken companion. "You remember Captain Cyclops, right?" he asked Noctus. The shock trooper's head perked up on hearing his name, revealing a deep gash down the left side of his face and directly through his empty eye socket. "Back when that Zillo beast thing got let loose?"

"I put that monster down," the drunk clone slurred, grinning. "Took my damn eye though. That son of a bitch was _tough_."

"I was lucky enough not to be here when it escaped." Noctus' words fell on deaf ears as Cyclops' sole eye caught sight of the two Twi'leks at the bar, a drunken grin spreading across his face as he draped his arms around their shoulders.

"What are a couple of beauties like you two doin' in a place like this?" Uliia scrunched up her nose as the scent of alcohol overpowered her. This clone was _drunk_, so much so that he couldn't even recognize the lightsabers on their belts, or that he was hitting on the General of one of his friends.

"Sorry," Aayla said, removing the Captain's arm from around her. "We're busy, thank you." Cyclops frowned, rearing up to his full height as he gave a disgruntled shove to their shoulders, storming away. But not without giving them a few parting words.

"Fuckin' tailheads."

Uliia couldn't see who threw the first punch, but in an instant both Noctus and Umbra were on top of the drunken clone, the quarreling trio crashing into tables and other clones. A gang of shock troopers jumped into the fray upon recognizing their Captain, and it didn't take long for a few clones from the 327th to join as well. Uliia and Aayla shouted at them, pulling at the soldiers to break up the fight, but to no avail.

"What in the fuck is going on here?" a voice roared from behind them. Bly and Fox pushed past the Jedi, throwing clones left and right until they got to the three in the middle, ripping them apart. "What in the name of Fett are you doing?" Bly yelled, locking his arms around Umbra's throat to pull him away from the fight. Uliia rushed forwards to pull Noctus away, pushing him back until he stopped trying to get at Cyclops.

Fox tore his helmet off, glaring down at the dazed Captain. "Someone, I don't care who, better tell me what the fuck happened here before I court martial every single one of you," he snarled. No response. Fox pulled his pistol from his holster. "Start talking or I'll start stunning."

Uliia stepped forward. "Captain Cyclops was drunk and thought Master Secura and I were dancers. When we rejected him, he shoved us and called us- called us a slur. Noctus and Umbra didn't take too kindly to that."

Now it was Umbra's turn to hold back Bly, keeping the irate Commander from stomping on the downed Captain. "Bly," Fox warned, pistol twitching. "Don't make me do this." The yellow-armored clone stopped struggling but kept his furious glare on Cyclops.

"Don't you _ever_ speak like that to my General again," he growled. "or else I'll be the one kicking your ass."

"Bly, that's enough." Aayla placed a hand on her Commander's shoulder, the clone visibly relaxing. "Come on boys," she called to the rest of her clones, "you're all done. Go back to your barracks and rest up before we ship out." The 327th clones saluted and began filing their way out of the trashed bar, throwing dirty looks at Cyclops.

"I'd suggest you two leave as well," Fox said to Uliia with a stern look. "I'm not afraid to arrest a Jedi or a Commando."

With one final kick at the downed clone, Noctus turned and stormed outside, followed closely by Uliia, who gave an apologetic smile to the shock trooper. As Noctus stomped off towards a transport, Uliia grabbed his arm and yanked him to an alley beside 79's, arms crossed. "Start talking."

Noctus didn't look at her, still frustrated. Uliia's eyes narrowed, and her hand reached out to his chin, forcing the stubborn clone to look at her. "_Now_."

"You know exactly why," Noctus grumbled, seizing her wrist and pulling her hand away with just enough force to let her know he wasn't in the mood to talk. "It doesn't affect you."

"It affects you, and therefore it affects me." Noctus leaned forward, glaring at her in a way she hadn't seen since they first met over a year ago.

"You don't own me. You aren't me. You have no reason to be affected by my own problems."

Uliia sighed, reaching up. "Yes, I do." She planted a soft peck on his cheek, the tips of her lekku dark purple. Ignoring the shocked expression on the clone's face, she walked out of the alley, taking a deep breath. "Come on. We should head back to the _Vorpent_. We leave in five hours, and we need our sleep."

* * *

_The Vorpent, 0730 hours_

Quint entered the deck, nodding to his fellow clones as they huddled around the holoprojector.

"We received an urgent assignment from Republic Intelligence," Jiana was explaining. "A Republic planet has reported a Separatist battle station in orbit. Our intelligence has confirmed the station is active but could find no signs of droid starfighters anywhere. No ships of any kind have been seen approaching or exiting the station, but scanners have detected objects entering and leaving hyperspace in the vicinity."

"Our mission today," Uliia added, pointedly avoiding a certain clone's gaze, "is reconnaissance. We need to figure out what that station is doing and destroy it if necessary."

"Alright, one problem." All eyes fell on Noctus. "You never told us what planet we're going to."

Jiana and Uliia were silent, avoiding eye contact with the commando. He narrowed his eyes, sensing something was amiss. "What planet are we going to?" he repeated.

"General, we're dropping out of hyperspace now," a crew member announced. As the bright white and blue of hyperspace faded away, the surface of the planet coming into view, Noctus' eyes widened and his grip on the table seized up. He knew exactly where they were. It was a place he hoped never to see again. A terrible, scarring place. His breathing came shallow and rapid as he found his voice.

"Ryloth…"

* * *

**Author's note: well, it finally happened. I think we all knew Uliia was going to do it sooner or later. Noctus certainly wasn't going to make the first move. A few things I'd like to mention:**

**1\. The short scene with Falcon and Trigger is actually important to the story, I swear. I didn't give them a weapons upgrade for no reason. Also, not-so-subtle 1138 reference.**

**2\. The next chapters will be a three-part arc, obviously taking place on/over Ryloth. They will be the final three chapters in the story, with the exception of the epilogue. **

**3\. I would like to give a very big thanks to all the readers who made it this far. Every comment, every favorite, it all makes me very happy.**

**4\. It gets thrown about a bit in The Clone Wars, but in my ****head canon "tailhead" is the Twi'leks equivalent of the n-word. Naturally, the 327th didn't take too kindly to hearing such a slur used against their General, and Noctus certainly wasn't going to let it go. Moral of the story: don't say mean words about others.**

**5\. Finally, I would like to promote a story that really inspired Aayla and Bly in this chapter. It is "More Than Just a Clone (Not Just a Copy of a Man)" by LongLiveTheClones. It is a phenomenal story and, while I won't spoil anything in it, I believe that Aayla and Bly deserved each other. Maybe it was just the story, but there was something about them that really pulled my heartstrings.**

**Thank you all for reading and as always, I'll see you in the next chapter!**

**EDIT:**

**Well, this is awkward. For all of my attempts to make this integrate smoothly into canon by only using OC's for the main characters and having them off-screen during events shown in the movies/TCW, I messed up. Aayla Secura and the 327th did not ship out for Felucia until _after _the Battle of Coruscant. Thus, I have altered the timeline in which this story takes place. The Battle of Coruscant occurred _while_ Inferno Company was on their multi-hour hyperspace trip back from Alzoc III, and they arrived just _after_ the Separatist Navy retreated.**

**Not only that, but there are about 2-3 days between the Battle of Coruscant and Order 66. Therefore, I will have to substantially alter my script for the Ryloth Arc. Chapter updates will be slowed down while I rework my draft.**


	6. Mission Fourteen: Ryloth (Pt I)

Chapter 6: Mission 14: Ryloth (Pt. I)

The door to the squad's barracks hissed open, with one irate commando throwing his helmet to the ground as he stormed through, kicking it across the room as he swore, teeth gritted.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me?" he yelled, glaring at Uliia, who had followed him as he stormed through the ship cursing up a storm.

"If we told you where we were going before we left, you would have abandoned us," she replied, arms crossed in annoyance. "I know how hard this is for you-"

"No you don't!" Noctus snapped, towering over his shorter Commander. "You have no idea what it was like for me here! To see all the death and suffering right before my eyes, and I couldn't even do anything to stop it! Those people down there went through hell, and I let it happen!"

Uliia placed her hand on Noctus' shoulder, dropping her stern look for a softer, sympathetic one. "I know exactly what it was like. When I was a slave on Zygerria, I saw countless people beaten and tortured. I had seen dozens of people die right in front of me by the time I was three-"

"Would you ever go back there?" Noctus interrupted, glare unphased by her show of sympathy. Uliia recoiled slightly, and Noctus brushed her hand off his shoulder, moving to retrieve his helmet. "Well, it's not like I have a choice now. I'm heading back to the bridge to review the plan." He paused on the way out the door, staring straight ahead. "This isn't some problem you can just kiss away."

Uliia flushed a deep purple as the clone left, images of the previous night flickering through her mind. _Why the hell did I kiss him?_ Maybe she could blame it on the drinks- no, she wasn't old enough. The droid at 79's had served her a soda, and a rather cheap one at that. Maybe someone had slipped something in it to let her guard down? _No_, she shook her head, dismissing that notion. Noctus would have caught it- and would likely have put a blaster bolt through the unfortunate person's kneecap as well. _He would overreact like that just to protect me_, she thought as she slipped out the door, beginning the long walk back to the bridge. _He'd take on the whole droid army to keep me safe. _Force knows she'd do the same.

Her internal dialogue paused for a moment. _I would? No, no, it's his job to protect me. As a clone, of course. _

_And isn't it only right to repay his love with your own?_

This time, she actually stopped walking, blinking in confusion. _No. It isn't love, it's…_ She was silent for a few minutes, then she sighed.

"_Ixta eti_."

* * *

"General, we're receiving a transmission from the Lucrehulk," an officer announced. Jiana stepped over to the holoprojector, arms crossed.

"Put it through."

The projector lit up, revealing a thin Neimoidian with an arrogant expression. "When I allowed our location to be leaked to the Republic, I was unaware that the legendary Inferno Company would be the ones responding. I was hoping for General Skywalker. He and I have a score to settle, after all."

Jiana raised an eyebrow, glaring at the Separatist. "Skywalker has other duties to attend to. Might I know who I am speaking with?"

"I am Captain Mar Tuuk." Jiana heard Noctus' gun cock behind her and held an arm out to stay him as the Neimoidian continued. "I presume you are already aware of who I am, so I shall dispose of the pleasantries." The Captain sat down in his command chair, hands clasped on his waist as he reclined. "The Techno Union has developed a new prototype starfighter, one of my own design: The _Virulent_-class droid interceptor. It was supposed to undergo combat testing during the invasion of Coruscant yesterday morning, but due to a technical error we were not able to deploy it in time. This is where you come in."

Jiana scoffed. "And why would we do that? What makes you think we won't just open fire on your unguarded ship and destroy you where you sit?"

Mar Tuuk sneered. "Because your cruiser will be disabled, if not destroyed."

R3 suddenly began chirping wildly from the scanners, fiddling with the data socket. A clone officer rushed over to look at the screen. "Something's dropping out of hyperspace behind us!"

A bone-shattering explosion rocked the _Vorpent_ as something detonated directly below it, the lights flickering as the ship automatically switched to its backup generators. "Damage report, now!" Jiana yelled. "What the hell happened?"

"Seismic charge hit our reactor!" an engineer responded. "Shields are offline, weapons are offline, engines are offline… Everything's gone! We're dead in space!"

"Now that you have an incentive," Mar Tuuk interrupted with a smirk, "maybe you will come out to participate in my test. If you somehow manage win and defeat my weapon, I shall surrender myself to you and the Republic."

Jiana gave a nasty glare to the Neimoidian. "And _if_ we lose?"

"You don't have to worry about what happens _when_ you lose," Tuuk dismissed, waving his hand. "There is nothing we can do to a dead person. I expect that would not come as a surprise to someone who puts their life on the line every single day. I shall be waiting for your move, General Razhuli." The hologram flickered, the Neimoidian disappearing with a smug grin.

"R3, try to restore power to the shields," Jiana said as she turned to the door. "Squad, get in your ships and stay close to the _Vorpent_. We need to defend it until the shields are back up."

"General," Noctus cut in, "my ship was damaged over Anaxes, remember? It hasn't been repaired yet."

"I am aware, Noctus." The commando didn't like the sly grin that spread across his General's face. "You'll be in a Y-wing with Uliia."

"What now?"

"Excuse me?"

The two glanced at each other in confusion while Jiana continued. "We need to take out that Lucrehulk, and our interceptors aren't powerful enough to do that."

"So why put us together?" Uliia asked as they entered the hangar, ignoring the indignant glare Noctus flashed her. "Why not one of the other clones?"

"Because your starfighter is damaged as well and is in no condition to fly."

Uliia raised an eyebrow, glancing at the freshly tuned-up starfighter beside her. "Looks all right to me."

Jiana's eyes narrowed, and her lightsaber ignited as she swirled around, slicing the fighter's left S-foils and wingtip off. She smiled thinly to her stunned padawan, her annoyance radiating through the force. "Does it now?" She climbed into her own fighter, starting up the engines while nodding towards the Y-wing parked behind the two stunned squadmates. "Go on, we're not going to wait for you."

Uliia sighed, turning around to see Noctus climbing into the cockpit. "And where do you think you're going?" she asked flatly.

Noctus paused on the ladder, glancing over his shoulder in annoyance. "I'm flying it. What, you thought I was gonna let _you_ be in control?"

"I'm not the one who got shot down." Noctus stared daggers at the Twi'lek's smug expression but descended the ladder and moved to climb into the turret, eyes never leaving Uliia. Even when she strapped into the pilot's seat and guided the ship out of the hangar, she still felt his gaze burning a hole into the back of her head. "Why don't you take a picture?" she teased. "It'll last longer."

Noctus wasn't amused. "Trust me, there's no getting that sight out of one's head."

Her eyes narrowed as she threw a glare over her shoulder. "I don't know if that's a compliment or a-"

"Heads up!"

Uliia was reacting before the words even left Noctus' lips, her Jedi senses alerting her to the seismic charge being dropped directly in front of their Y-wing. She jerked the controls to the left, rolling under the bomb. "C1, split power between the engines and the rear deflector! Get us to that Lucrehulk!" The astromech warbled a response, and the bomber jolted forward, hurtling closer to the battle station. "Master, watch out!"

There was an abrupt silence as the charge pulled in all the noise from the ships, and then a deafening echo blasted through the void, shockwave splitting through space. Jiana called out a warning to the _Vorpent_, but it was too late. The shockwave tore through the crippled cruiser, shearing the entire rear half of the ship off, metal buckling as the air inside rapidly escaped the stricken vessel, carrying both droids and crew into the cold vacuum. The reactor ignited, setting off the rhydonium fuel stores and eviscerating all traces of the cruiser. The shockwave continued through the _Vorpent_, cutting through both Speedy's and Smokey's fighters. The clones were sucked out into space, rapidly fumbling for the controls to pressurize their suits.

"_Vorpent_, respond!" Jiana yelled. "Is anyone still there? Falcon, Rhino, get in there and try to look for-"

"General," Falcon interjected, "I hate to tell you this but they're all dead! You saw what happened! And I don't intend on being next, so let's kill that droid and then wipe that Separatist battle station!"

Jiana sighed, thumping her head against the headrest. She glanced out the viewport at the two loose clones. "Speedy, Smokey, you boys alright?"

"Never better General," Speedy griped. "We're free floating in space with an invisible droid starfighter hellbent on killing us all. This is the greatest day of my life."

"Just hold on, we'll pick you up. Quint, Trigger, can you make room in the storage compartments behind you for them?"

"General, we'll be fine." Smokey stretched his arm out, grasping for his backpack. "The droid will come back around to finish both of us off. When it does, I'll throw a magnetic charge onto its hull. If I can disable its cloaking device, it'll make your job a lot easier."

"I will _not_ lose my men! I order you to-"

"A hundred of your men just died because of that droid!" Speedy yelled. "A hundred of our brothers just died because of that droid! General, get out there and destroy that battle station before the droid comes back for you and the Commander!"

"This is what we were born for," Smokey added. "It's our job to protect you."

"And it's my job to protect _you_!" Jiana snapped. "You are not just a bunch of mindless droids! You are living, breathing people with your own minds and personalities and-"

Her vision flashed red as a storm of blaster bolts exploded around her cockpit. She heard a yell over her commlink, and Patches' ship went up in a burst of flames, spraying shrapnel and burning fuel across her cockpit. An arm, body nowhere to be found, bounced off her viewscreen, leaving a red smear that gradually boiled away in the vacuum of space, a dark stain tainting her vision as she heaved, swearing under her breath. "Speedy, Smokey, I'm counting on you two. Squad, on me! We need to make sure Uliia and Noctus get to that battle station!"

As the four remaining fighters sped off after the bomber, Smokey reached into his bag and pulled out a mine. "Speedy, take one of these. The cloak has to go down before it shoots so it doesn't overload the power systems. It flickers in time with the shots."

The scout nodded. "I noticed before that the cloak originates from near the back of the fighter. I'll try to draw it out while you get a charge onto the rear."

Smokey tossed the mine to Speedy and grabbed one for himself. He glanced at his blaster, then tossed it away. He turned his audio receptors all the way up; not that he'd be able to hear anything in space, but he hoped they'd be able to pick up the faint electromagnetic signals from the fighter. A minute passed, then he heard the faint static-laced whine of ion engines. "It's coming! Get ready!"

A torrent of blaster bolts filled the vacuum around the two clones, a menacing shape flashing in their vision as the starfighter closed in on them. Smokey twisted his body to avoid a bolt, and he and Speedy both launched their charges as the fighter screamed between them. There was an explosion, and a dark form materialized against the shine of the planet below, glowing red as its ray shields activated.

Nearly thirty meters in length and ten across, it was shaped like a dagger. Four laser cannons lined its nose, with two torpedo launchers below it. It had two photoreceptors on both the top and bottom sides of it, one on each wing, and four facing behind it, where its mine launcher was mounted. Four ion thrusters gave it immeasurable speed and agility, as did the quad S-foils giving it a cross-like silhouette as it swung around to face them, laser cannons at the tip of each.

"Holy shit, that's a mean-looking droid," Smokey breathed. "And it's ray shielded. We're gonna have to find a way to get around that."

"It's firing eight laser cannons simultaneously," Speedy said as the droid accelerated towards them, heading back in for the kill. "There's no way it has enough power to run both at the same time. Hell, it shouldn't be able to fly that fast while shooting its cannons or powering its shields or cloak." The clones narrowly avoided the next salvo of shots, one grazing Speedy's leg. "It's gotta have at least three power circuits: one running the engines and the hyperdrive, one working the shields, the cloak, and the weapons, and the other running the sensors and processors."

"They killed Count Dooku yesterday, and Grievous is on the run," Smokey said as he glared at the menacing fighter streaking past. "The war is about to end. But if the Separatists manage to put this thing into production, we could lose this war in an instant. We _have_ to do something. It's on the defensive now, so it traded its cloak for that ray shield. And our fighters can't break through ray shields, even with torpedoes."

Speedy was silent for a moment. "I'll draw it out. I'll force it to shoot at me so you can stick a mine to it. From the few glances I took, there was a bulge on the underside, at the base of the bottom wing. The shield projector's going to be there. An ion charge will probably short out that entire electrical system and prevent both the shield and cloak from coming back online."

Speedy unhooked his blaster from his belt as Smokey pulled an EMP from his pack, taping it to a magnetic clamp. "It's been an honor serving with you all," the scout said, before taking aim at the oncoming starfighter. "Come at me you son of a bitch!"

He opened fire, managing to get a single shot in before its shields came up. The red glow of the shields flickered rapidly as a hail of plasma erupted from the droid's many cannons, surrounding the clone. Smokey waited as the droid came nearer, watching for the pattern in the shield's downtime, and reached out with the charge just as the droid passed by him. It clamped onto the starfighter's hull and yanked him along with it, Smokey giving a brief, despondent look back at Speedy's decimated corpse before hitting the detonator.

A blue burst of energy burst from the charge, getting trapped within the droid's shield and ricocheting deeper inside its metal body. The shield abruptly vanished as the droid cut a sharp right, sparks and smoke trailing from its damaged reactor. Smokey's grip slipped for a moment and he was nearly flung off, but he held fast, reaching to the small of his back for his thermal imploder. He slowly slipped towards the back of the droid as it hurtled towards the Republic starfighters, jamming his detonator in the mine tube. He was just about to enter the bomb's combination lock and hit the trigger when he noticed the blood-red photoreceptor staring down at him and a ball-mounted tail cannon aimed directly at his head. He saw the red light begin to glow from within the cannon and sighed, closing his eyes as it fired.

* * *

Jiana didn't see the clones' deaths, but she sensed them through the Force. First, a deep, spasming pain that radiated across her whole body before a blistering cold washed over her skin, as if her muscles were turning to ice and shattering, then a brief, splitting headache that rapidly faded into a blurring numbness. She forced her churning stomach to relax as she grimaced, sensing the droid rapidly approaching from behind. "Rhino, on me! Break off and get behind it! The rest of you, full power to rear shields! You're only a few kilometers from the station!"

As Jiana swooped around to trail the droid, she shivered as she saw its aggressive form cutting across the horizon, like a jagged glaive slashing down upon the clones. "Rhino, try to take out its wings! It'll lose its maneuverability!"

The ARC lunged in from above, eyes narrowed as he ducked beneath a salvo from the tail cannon, fiddling with the dials on his control levers. "I can't get a lock on it without R3 running the targeting computer! I'm gonna have to switch over to manual aim controls!" Centering an engine in between his cannons, Rhino fired a volley of tracer bolts, dialing in their spread until they were focused properly. He flipped the safety on the torpedo launcher, thumb hovering over the trigger as he spiraled beneath a mine, the explosion shaving an edge off one of his S-foils. "I got it lined up!"

On board the droid's computer, its rear scanners locked onto Rhino's commlink, analyzing his comments.

**[Enemy's targeting systems are offline. Preparing dumb-fire evasion protocol Zeta-9…]**

The droid sped up slightly, closing in on the Y-wing's escort fighters with its cannons blazing. An ion torpedo burst forth from Rhino's fighter, rapidly closing in on the droid's ventral engine.

**[Preparing…]**

**[Preparing…]**

**[Executing]**

In an instant, the droid's lower engine reversed thrust, flipping itself around to face the oncoming torpedo. As it did so, it launched a mine from its rear, the momentum flinging it forwards into the midst of the clones' starfighters. The droid targeted its nose cannons onto the torpedo and fired, destroying the incoming missile and spraying its ion charge straight into Rhino and Jiana's fighters. It spiraled away from the group, circling around to attack the rear of the squadron, locking its cannons onto the seismic charge.

"Scatter!" At Noctus' call, the three interceptors broke formation, rapidly accelerating away from the mine. Noctus whirled the turret around, firing ion pulses in an attempt to disable the mine, but it was too late. With a rushing silence, the mine exploded, the shockwave barreling down on the lumbering bomber. "Get us out of here! Hurry!"

Uliia franticly jerked the Y-wing to the left in an attempt to roll under the shockwave, but the leading edge slammed into the right engine, tearing through the radiator housing and violently tossing the bomber aside. "_Szu'tak!_" Uliia winced as dozens of warnings appeared on her display screens. "Coolant pressure is dropping like crazy, our right fuel line is ruptured, and our power systems are failing! We have no shields, no primary weapons, and our engine isn't going to last long!"

Noctus brought up the ship's diagnostics on his data screen. "If we try to route more power to the starboard engine, it'll overheat and fail at best, or explode and take us with it. Maximum speed is down by 40 percent, and our hyperdrive won't work." He mentally forced the bile rising in his throat back down as he spoke. "We'll have to land on the surface."

"I'm not sure that'll be possible." Quint pulled up beside them, gazing out his viewport at the damaged engine. "That won't survive reentry, and even if it did the atmospheric drag would destroy what's left of it."

"We don't have a choice!" Uliia pulled the nose of the crippled bomber up to face the Lucrehulk, nursing the throttle. "We have to destroy that station, and we have to land on the surface. Our air supply won't last another five minutes, and we're rapidly draining fuel. Master, Noctus and I need you and the rest of the squad to take out that fighter. We'll go alone."

Jiana sighed. She wanted to protest, to protect her Padawan, but she knew there was no alternative. With the droid still a threat to them, there was no way the bomber could get to the station. "Alright… Squad, on me! We're taking out that droid!" As the fighters peeled away from the bomber, she took one final glance at her Padawan. "May the Force be with you, Uliia."

Noctus spun his turret around, the flashes of red and blue lasers gradually fading as the lone bomber bore down on the Separatist command ship. Though he wasn't a Jedi, he could still feel the anxiety radiating from Uliia. "They'll be alright, Commander. It's just one droid."

"One droid that destroyed the _Vorpent_, left no survivors, and killed Smokey, Patches, and Speedy." Her knuckles began to turn white as she squeezed down hard on the controls. "Thanks to Speedy and Smokey we can actually see the damn thing now, but what difference does it make? It's faster than any of our ships, its more agile, its got more weapons than we have ships left-"

"-But at the end of the day, it's still just a droid," Noctus interrupted. "It can't compare to a Jedi. Plus, that Neimoidian said this was its first combat test. That means there are still bugs in its programming that they can exploit. But for now, that's not our objective."

"Right, right." Uliia sighed, her grip relaxing. "We're going for the command ship. Don't worry about the droid," she muttered to herself. "Master can handle it."

The bomber flew closer to the Lucrehulk, the station's turbolaser batteries swiveling to track the lone ship. They held their fire, letting the bomber pass between the two arms of the station and soar up the side of the central control sphere, rocketing past the control deck. A battle droid turned at his station to look at his Captain. "Uh, sir? Should we open fire?"

Mar Tuuk clasped his hands together, eyes narrowed behind his goggles. "Let them pass for now. Wait for them to make the first shot. Their bombs cannot penetrate our shields." A smirk crossed his face. "Deploy the first transport. Prepare the engines for a jump to light speed, but do not fire them. Give the bomber a choice: us, or the innocent citizens of Ryloth."

An alert popped up on a screen in the Y-wing's turret. "Commander, a landing craft just launched from the station! It's heading to the surface!"

The bomber swooped around behind the Lucrehulk, Uliia catching sight of the engines' bright glow. "And they're preparing to jump to hyperspace!"

"What do we do, Commander?" Noctus asked, slumping back in his seat slightly. "If we go after the transport, then the station and the droid will escape. If we take out the station, then the droids will invade Ryloth again."

"_Ixta eti,_" Uliia groaned. She glanced between the station preparing to escape and the three transports approaching the atmosphere. "_Ixta eti, ixta eti, ixta eti!_" She swung the bomber to the left, accelerating back towards the station. "Noctus, prepare an ion pulse. Take out the shields guarding the core's reactor, and I'll launch every missile we have at it."

The battle droid turned around once again. "Sir, the bomber is making an attack run on the station."

"It cannot penetrate our shields," Tuuk repeated. "No craft that small can. Destroy the bomber and move to reinforce the _Virulent_."

Uliia swooped under a powerful salvo from the station's cannons, typing at the control pad to her left. "Noctus, is that ion pulse ready?"

"Not yet! The damage to the reactor is making this take longer than normal!"

"Fine then, I'll buy you some time!" The bomber swooped in low, skimming across the arms of the station. As she circled around to the rear of the Lucrehulk, the bomb ports opened up, proton bombs being shuttled into place. She rolled under another laser burst, lined up her aim, and hit the release. Three proton bombs launched from the craft, each one slamming into one of the station's left turbolasers with a brilliant white explosion. Flying over the central spar, she dropped three more, striking the right-side batteries as well, destroying two and disabling the third. "Alright Noctus, I'm out of bombs! That pulse better be ready!" she called as she swooped down to fly alongside the command sphere.

"It won't charge!" The commando slammed his fist on the control screen, teeth gritted. "The reactor can't get it above sixty percent! It won't overload the shield!"

"_Szu'tak,_" Uliia muttered. As the bomber flew closer to the shield, she caught sight of the internal point defense cannon tracking them. "Shoot that cannon! Get its attention!"

"It won't shoot as long as we're next to the core!"

"It will if you attack it!"

Noctus spun the turret around, raising the cannons and centering the turbolaser in his rangefinder. He fired two shots, neither of which did much damage, but a red glow began to form within the cannons' barrels. "It's firing! I don't know what you're planning, but it better happen now!"

Mar Tuuk glared out the viewport of the control center. "Hold your fire! That's what they-"

The turbolaser fired, just as the bomber came up on the shield. Uliia slammed the throttle down as low as it would go and yanked the bomber's nose up, firing the engines just as the laser blast cut through the edge of the shield. There was an explosion as the shield generator failed and hundreds of panicked droids were sucked out into space. The bomber arced up and away from the explosion, swooping back around to face the now-exposed reactor core. Uliia pulled the trigger and spun the ship around towards the surface as the torpedoes flew into the reactor housing.

Noctus swiveled the turret around to watch as the torpedoes struck home. There was an initial blast as the torpedoes hit the reactor core, then a second, larger explosion as the core collapsed, igniting the fuel recyclers surrounding the reactor housing. The explosion traveled through the neck of the station towards the engines and the main fuel tanks, occasionally breaking through in a brilliant orange-blue fireball.

_Wait, blue?_ Noctus frowned. _There's not supposed to be blue in there… Maybe it's the fuel for that droid? What does it run on? Judging by the power of its engines, it's likely rhydonium, and judging how fast it must burn fuel-_

"How much damn rhydonium do they have on there?" he muttered.

His question was answered moments later as a cataclysmic explosion vaporized the Lucrehulk, the shockwave barreling down on the Y-wing. "I am _really_ sick of all these explosions!" Uliia yelled as she dipped the nose down for a steeper atmospheric entry. "This'll get a little rough!" she called to Noctus as bright orange flames began to flicker in front of the viewport, the bomber streaking down into Ryloth's atmosphere. Debris from the Lucrehulk was falling all around them, dark smoke trails crisscrossing across the horizon as dozens of explosions dotted the planet's surface.

As the atmospheric drag grew more and more, pieces of the damaged engine nacelle began peeling off and disintegrating. Uliia struggled to hold the craft steady as it began to list to the right, narrowly missing a large piece of the Lucrehulk's engine assembly. The front cannons glowed bright red in the heat, then snapped off, one punching through the gunner's turret. It glanced off of Noctus' helmet as it smashed through the transparasteel bubble, then the dome shattered, and Uliia heard a yell as Noctus was engulfed by the flames. In a panic, she slammed the throttle as far as it would go, wincing at the creaking from the right engine housing as the damaged turbines strained under the increased fuel flow.

The stricken bomber finally broke through the cloud layers, nearly perpendicular to the ground. With as much strength as she could muster, Uliia pulled back on the controls in an attempt to level off, hearing the groaning and cracking as she struggled to keep the bomber from rolling to the right. "C1, do something about that engine!" The droid warbled something in response, and a message popped up on her display. "No, don't eject me! We have to get to where those Separatist ships landed! And I won't eject and leave Noctus be-"

Uliia was jolted to the left as the right engine finally gave out, exploding in a massive fireball. The bomber began to tumble through the air, trailing smoke and flames behind it. Uliia groaned, then ignited one of her lightsabers, slicing the canopy off of the cockpit. She turned in her seat, crawling across the bomber to the gunner turret. Noctus was limp in the seat, smoke trailing from his burnt armor. She grabbed him under the arms, grunting as she struggled to lift him. His helmet fell against her cheek, and she screamed as the scorching hot beskar seared her skin. Yanking him free of his restraints, she rolled backwards, pulling the unconscious commando out of the bomber and into a free fall with her.

Shaking off the pain in her face, Uliia glanced up where the ground was rapidly approaching. Pushing off of Noctus, she flew down in a dive, then rolled forwards and extended her hands, sending a powerful blast through the Force. It wasn't enough to completely break her fall, and she hit the tough ground hard, landing awkwardly on her left ankle. She felt a sharp, splitting pain radiate up through her leg to her knee, but forced it to the back of her mind, rolling to her side and holding her hands up, catching Noctus' body with the Force. He too bounced off the ground, his chestplate and helmet cracking under the impact.

Out of the corner of her eye, Uliia saw the bomber spiral over the horizon, eventually slamming to the ground in the midst of a village. She slumped back, breathing heavily as the adrenaline of the crash wore off, the pain in her cheek and ankle surging to the top of her mind. She glanced down at her ankle, shuddering. It was swollen and bruised, and definitely bent wrong; broken, or at least dislocated. She allowed a few tears to drip down her face, teeth gritted as she pounded her fist into the hard dirt below her, holding back her cries of agony, lest she attract one of the many predators lurking in Ryloth's wilderness.

A strained groan brought Uliia to her senses. She dragged herself to Noctus, unhooking his equipment pack and rolling him onto his back. She shuddered as she looked over the clone's scorched and carbonized armor, pieces of charred flesh visible through his torn bodysuit. She reached up to pull his helmet off, but as she tugged on it, blood splashed onto her face, and Noctus stiffened momentarily before falling still once again.

Uliia felt the onset of another panic attack, raising a trembling hand to wipe the blood from her eye. "No, no, no! I don't have time to panic!" She clenched her eyes shut, forcing her mind to relax. The stench of burnt plastoid and blood still filled the air, but she forced her stomach to cease its churning, looking back down at her ankle. _I can't find help for Noctus with my ankle injured like that… at the very least, I have to set it. I can splint it with a branch from one of those bushes, which should be enough to last until I find help. And I need to find some way to move Noctus… _

Spotting two large rocks near each other, Uliia dragged herself to them. She broke a branch off of a nearby bush, setting it in her mouth as she maneuvered her injured ankle in the gap between the rocks. Getting a firm grip on the bush, she bit down on the branch, clenching her eyes as she mentally braced herself, then pulled herself sharply forwards.

There was a loud click as her ankle was violently popped back into place, and a strangled scream forced itself from her throat as she nearly bit through the branch. Wiping the tears from her eyes, she pulled her ankle up to her, gingerly feeling for additional injuries. She gave it an experimental flex, sighing as no further pain came from the joint. _Just dislocated, then._ She moved to stand and hissed as a dull ache throbbed from her ankle. _Okay, maybe sprained too._She tore the sleeve from her left arm, ripping the fabric in two, and broke two more branches from the bush, fashioning a crude splint. She took a light step, wincing slightly at the pain, but managed to stay upright. "Now to deal with Noctus…"

She glanced back down at the rocks she used to set her ankle. One was large enough to set the clone on. Pulling out her lightsabers, she sliced down through the rock, cutting a sort of sled from it. She raised it with the Force, levitating it over next to the clone and letting it cool down. With some effort, she dragged the clone onto the makeshift sled, setting his pack down below his feet. "Okay, now how am I going to move this? I don't have anything I can use to pull it…"

She glanced down at her tube top. She sighed, then pulled it off, tearing it into a long strip of cloth. "Just don't look, alright?" she joked to the unconscious clone as she ignited her lightsaber, punching two holes through the sled and tying the cloth through them to make a handle. "Now where to take him…"

Uliia squinted into the horizon, scanning the barren lands. There was the village the bomber crashed into, but that was easily a dozen kilometers away. She grumbled in annoyance, and was about to begin the long trek, but another structure caught her eye. A square, grey fortification only about a kilometer away. One with a very familiar logo.

"A Separatist outpost…" She glanced down at the unconscious commando, gulping. She sighed, then picked up the handle, limping towards the outpost. "Please don't make me regret this, Noctus…"

* * *

**Author's note:**

**And with this, the climax of the story rapidly approaches. Shot down over Ryloth, Uliia turns to the Separatists to save a severely injured Noctus. Patches, ****Speedy, and Smokey have fallen victim to the terrifying _Virulent_-class droid starfighter. How will Jiana, Rhino, Quint, Falcon, and Trigger defeat this seemingly invincible droid? What will happen to Uliia and Noctus in the clutches of the Separatists? Find out in the next chapter!**

**Additional note: I have made a slight alteration to Uliia across the story. Though she spent most of her life on Coruscant, and does not have the typical Twi'lek accent, she does tend to fall back into that habit when stressed or emotionally charged, much like how Hera Syndulla's accent shows up when talking to her father Cham. Thus, Uliia now swears in Ryl, but only when spoken. She has only audibly swore once before, after the mission on Alzoc III (Chapter 4). That has been edited to follow this new headcanon. All spoken words (within quotation marks) that are in a language besides Galactic Basic are in italics (this does not affect thoughts). A few translations are as follows:**

**_Kunta _\- fuck**

**_Ixta eti _\- damn it**

**_Szu'tak _\- shit**

**These translations are taken primarily from .org, a wonderful resource I recently found, as well as Wookieepedia. I will be utilizing both resources as I continue to expand upon Uliia's character and explore her background.**


	7. Mission Fourteen: Ryloth (Pt II)

Chapter 7: Mission 14: Ryloth (Pt. II)

"May the Force be with you, Uliia."

As the lone bomber soared to the battle station, the five remaining fighters broke away, arcing around to make another attack run on the _Virulent_. The droid spun as it passed between the fighters, its long wings narrowly missing Jiana as it swooped around to continue the chase. "Trigger, Rhino, you two need to get behind the droid. Be ready with ion shots to disable any mines it might drop. Quint, Falcon, you two are on me. Split power evenly between engines and rear shields. We need to keep it away from that station while Uliia and Noctus destroy it."

"Copy that, General." Rhino and Trigger throttled back to near zero, rolling to each side as the droid shot between them. They powered back up, tailing the droid as it chased the other three. "Trigger, set full weapons power to the ion cannons. Prime a proton torpedo as well. We'll break its shields with ion blasts, then take out the shield generator with the torpedoes."

"I'm on it, Rhino." Trigger flipped switches on his control lever, a high-pitched whine filling the cabin as the ion cannons charged up. "Ready on your signal."

"General, we're ready!" Rhino called. Jiana rolled beneath a salvo from the droid's cannons, shield's flickering.

"Now!"

The two clones opened fire, ion bolts slamming into the droid's shields. They flickered for a moment but held sturdy. The tail cannon swiveled to point at Trigger, who quickly moved his shields to the front as the cannon fired, rocking his interceptor. "Rhino, we have to get rid of that thing's rear cannon or we'll be too dead to help the general!"

"I know!" the ARC yelled. "Ray shields are really hard to break through!"

Falcon pulled up beside Jiana, weaving away from a cannon shot. "General, if I pull off to the side I can open my cockpit and shoot at it with my rifle. It'll be strong enough to break the droid's shields, and it'll give Rhino and Trigger the chance to hit its generator."

"You'll be too exposed! I'm not losing another soldier to this droid!" Jiana snapped.

"If you got a better idea, then be my damn guest General!"

Jiana growled; she knew the sniper was right. "Fine. Get to a safe distance before you take the shot. Full shields."

Falcon nodded, peeling off from the group. He flew about a kilometer away before he brought his fighter to a halt, sending full power to the shields as he depressurized the cabin, grabbing his rifle from its storage behind him and opening the cockpit hatch. He shivered as the cold embrace of the vacuum poked at his bodysuit, trying desperately to get into his armor and choke the life from him. He raised the rifle to his shoulder, tilting his head to the right to center the scope over his eye. Bracing his legs against the seat, he flipped the safety off, feeling an electric buzz begin to resonate from within the rifle's body. He brought the droid into his sight, zooming in on it as it dipped and weaved around Trigger and Rhino's blasts, hot on the heels of Jiana and Quint. Taking a deep breath, he forced his body to ignore the biting cold, to focus only on the droid, and his finger tightened around the trigger.

The gun jolted back almost half a meter, the recoil nearly throwing Falcon out of the cockpit. The supercharged bolt raced through the abyss, spiraling slightly as it slammed into the droid's shields. The outer plasma exploded on contact, slamming through the shields while the higher-energy core of the shot continued through and piercing the fighter's hull, blasting clean through the durasteel and all the way out the other side of the droid. The droid faltered in its flight, sparks flying from the gaping hole in its targeting array.

Just as the shot hit the droid, the station behind them exploded, a brilliant flash of blue, orange, every color of flame. The droid narrowly avoided the shockwave, its bottom and left-side cannons being sheared off by the blast. Jiana and Quint barely managed to dodge the debris, the former losing an S-foil to the shockwave. Falcon barely managed to get seated in his fighter and blast off as the explosion reached him, nearly tearing his left wing off. "Looks like they did it!"

Jiana wasn't focused on the explosion; she was watching the damaged bomber plummeting to the surface. "We need to- gah!"

The droid shot past her, narrowly avoiding a collision as it shot towards the bomber. "General!" Rhino called.

"I see it! We need to kill that droid now!"

She instantly dove after the _Virulent_, the four clones right on her tail. By the time they began to enter the atmosphere, the Y-wing had disappeared below the clouds. The droid began firing its tail cannon randomly, in a last-ditch effort to survive. "Quint! You got this one!"

"On it, General!" Grabbing his shotgun, the paratrooper popped his hatch open, instantly getting sucked out into the atmosphere as his fighter spiraled out of control, eventually breaking up and exploding. His rocket pack ignited, launching him closer to the droid. He spun under a cannon blast, finally managing to grab one of the droid's wings. He pulled himself across the droid's hull, climbing on top of the bulge of its main processor. He slammed his bayonet down into the hull and pulled the trigger, his shotgun decimating the droid's control circuits as he leapt off the dead droid's hull, rockets firing and pushing him into the air.

The _Virulent _spiraled towards the ground, now a piece of dead metal. It slammed into the ground a few kilometers away, exploding in a massive fireball. "Great work Quint!" Jiana said, watching the smoke leap into the sky. "Rhino, check the scanners. See if you can locate Uliia and Noctus."

"I don't think I'll need the scanners, General." The ARC was staring at a thin wisp of smoke rising from the Tann Province, a scorch mark visible even from their height. "I think that's them."

Jiana felt her stomach drop as she saw the crash site. "G-get down there. Maybe they're still alive."

The four remaining fighters made it down to the surface, landing just outside of a large manor. Quint fired his rockets, landing beside the craft as Jiana took off into the city, the others just behind her. Rounding a corner, she screeched to a halt as she saw the smoldering remains of the bomber, a young girl poking at a damaged astromech. She glanced up at the Jedi and clones, then back down to the astromech, pulling it upright and fiddling with something inside its shell.

Jiana knelt down beside the girl. "Hi there. Who are you?"

The girl didn't look up, frowning at something in the droid. "Hera."

Jiana looked up at the wreckage. "Do you know what happened here?"

"No clue," the girl responded, pulling a clump of melted wires from the astromech. "It came down from the sky and landed in my home's courtyard."

"Do you know where the pilot is?" Jiana asked, feeling an icy sensation begin to creep up in her gut.

"Nope." Hera finally looked up, shrugging. "It was empty when it landed. Its viewscreen was gone, and the turret was shattered. Whoever was in it was probably sucked out." She turned back to the droid but paused for a moment. "I'm sorry."

Jiana sighed, standing up. "I know Uliia. She's alive. Thank you, Hera."

Hera shrugged. "Not much I can do for you."

"General, I got something on the scanners." Falcon held out a portable hologram, showing a red dot blinking at a position nearly a dozen kilometers away. "This is the last place Noctus' transmitter was active."

Hera glanced up at the map, her eyes widening slightly. "Oh, that's not good for them."

Jiana glanced down at her. "Why? Why is it not good?"

"Because a Separatist ship landed there a few minutes ago."

* * *

The battle droid sighed, checking the cameras again. They had just finished setting up the outpost, and now he was stuck working security? That wasn't a job for a battle droid! He was meant to be out there fighting clones, not watching cameras all day!

He wisely kept his complaints to himself. He knew what happened to droids like him when they complained. He grumbled, flipping through the different camera feeds. The first few were empty, just like the last eight times he had checked them, but he paused when he reached the one facing out the main entrance. "Uh, sir? You might want to look at this."

The super tactical droid in charge leaned over, glancing at the screen. "One of the locals? What is she dragging?"

The battle droid zoomed in on the video. "No sir, I think that's one of the Jedi. It looks like she's carrying a clone. They both appear to be injured."

The super tactical droid rubbed its chin. "Curious. Assemble a squad. I will intercept them personally."

Uliia stopped as the outpost doors opened, the super tactical droid framed by a squad of commando droids and super battle droids. She slowly raised her hands, sighing. The tactical droid glanced between her and Noctus. "I am Khalid, commander of this outpost. State your business here."

"I am Jedi Padawan Uliia Nodulu, Inferno Company. I am here to surrender myself in exchange for medical assistance for my friend," she said, gesturing to Noctus. Khalid tilted his head slightly.

"I find no strategical logic behind your decision. I run millions of simulations each day to account for every possible aspect of a given scenario; not once have I ever devised a situation such as this. All my calculations are telling me there is a 99.831% chance that this is a trap. However…" He glanced down at Uliia's splinted ankle and the dark purple burn on her cheek, then to the unconscious clone on the sled, armor still smoking. "I can see you are in no condition to fight us. Surrender your weapons to us, and we will escort you to a medical droid." Uliia reached to her belt, holding out her lightsabers to the super battle droid that took them from her. One of the super battle droids took the handle to Noctus' sled, dragging it into the outpost as the commando droids circled behind Uliia, pushing her forwards.

She was led through the outpost to a building in the back corner, a medical cross prominently displayed on the side. "Normally this medical center is reserved for our organic commanders, but as Captain Tuuk is no longer alive I shall allow you to use it for the time being," Khalid said. "T-6B will tend to you and your trooper's injuries, though I would not hold out hope for the clone. He seems to be in very bad shape."

"I know," Uliia sighed. "I hope your medic can save him."

The door hissed open as the super battle droid dragged the unconscious clone into the medbay, Uliia following behind. Khalid and the super battle droid left, locking the door behind them as the medical droid walked out from behind a computer array. "I am T-6B. I have already been informed of your arrival by Commander Khalid." The droid gave the two a quick glance. "I will tend to his injuries first. Yours appear to be much less severe," she said to Uliia. "There is a shower in the back. Feel free to use it while I examine the clone."

Uliia stepped aside as the droid knelt down beside Noctus, moving to remove the clone's helmet. "Wait!" The droid froze, turning to look at the nervous Twi'lek. "He hurt his head pretty badly. I already tried to take his helmet off. He started bleeding really badly."

T-6B turned back to Noctus, extending a scanner from her wrist and running it along Noctus' helmet. "Yes, I can see that. That is quite the severe wound. It will require immediate surgery. I will need you to help move him onto the table for me." Uliia nodded, extending her hands. Noctus slowly lifted into the air, floating to the surgical bench before being gently set down. Uliia turned to leave, shuddering at the dark stain left on the rock sled. She limped to the shower, leaving a trail of dirty, soot-covered clothing as she slumped into the stall, reaching one tired hand up to turn the water on. She yelped at the ice-cold temperature, then sighed as it rapidly warmed up. She lay on the ground, the day's events swimming through her head. She didn't even try to halt the tears as she sobbed, overwhelmed with pain, sadness, and fear.

* * *

**CONTENT WARNING:**

**This section contains graphic descriptions of **

**severe burns and other injuries. If you **

**are squeamish or would otherwise prefer not **

**to read this part, please skip ahead to the next **

**bolded AN.**

* * *

T-6B slid a scalpel down Noctus' bodysuit, cutting the singed and torn garment from the clone. She moved to peel the suit off his skin but paused as she noticed an odd, impossible movement from his left arm. The droid leaned in closer, spotting a large tear running all the way around the sleeve, with shriveled and charred skin beneath. She carefully sliced through the sleeve, noticing an abnormal amount of leakage, and slowly peeled it away.

Half of his skin came with it, the rest sloughing off in a sickening sludge of pus, charred muscle, and fragments of singed, blackened bone. T-6B immediately rushed to cauterize the wound, but no blood spilled from Noctus' arm; likely, the stain on the rock sled he'd been dragged on came from the gut-wrenching injury and it was all bled out, the flames of reentry charring the arteries beneath his skin and cutting off blood flow to the limb. T-6B examined his shoulder, where charred, shriveled flesh gave way to heat-splintered bone. There was no way to save the limb; from the shoulder down, it was already dead.

Sighing, the droid activated her saw, slicing through the fragile, brittle bone and what tissue remained. With the dead limb out of the way, T-6B turned to a tool bench, grabbing parts from various drawers and assembling the universal limb adapter with blinding speed. Turning her attention back to Noctus, the droid began slicing a circle around the clone's shoulder joint, cauterizing the arteries as she went. With the skin and remaining muscle out of the way, she cut the few ligaments holding the upper part of Noctus' humerus into its socket and removed the dead bone. She reached out with her microscalpel, aligning the severed nerves into the proper positions to accept the cybernetic adapter and allow full control over the (eventual) new limb. She drilled into the joint socket, fitting the adapter into place and making sure the nerves were aligned correctly before tightening the adapter's bolts.

"Now that the arm is taken care of…" T-6B murmured, moving around the bench, extending her saw once again, intent on cutting the commando's helmet off. A shower of sparks stopped the droid, a thin, glowing line quickly fading from the metal. "Beskar… interesting." She swapped the saw for his cauterizer, slowly tracing a line around the clone's helmet. She sprayed a blisteringly cold burst of compressed air over the glowing hot metal, and a loud _crack_ echoed through the operating room as the metal rapidly contracted, tearing along the seam. T-6B moved quickly, stemming the bleeding as she cut a curved line along the clone's right temple, peeling the skin back to reveal a mess of shattered bone held together only by a thin film of loose tissue. Cutting through it, the droid pulled the various shards of bone out, piecing them together on the bench with precision sutures. She moved to replace the section of skull but paused as she noticed bleeding coming from deeper within the clone's brain. She set to work stabilizing the wounds, examining Noctus' brain tissue, then paused in confusion, pulling out a small computer chip from within the clone's head. "Fascinating…"

* * *

**END OF GRAPHIC CONTENT**

* * *

When Uliia was finally done sobbing, she turned off the water and exhaustedly pushed the door open. She found a towel waiting for her, and quickly dried off, hissing as the rough cloth dragged over the burn on her cheek. She wrapped the towel around her body and walked back into the medbay, seeing Noctus lying on the bench, the right side of his head covered in stitches and a sheet covering the rest of his body. "We were lucky to get him here in time," T-6B said. "He suffered a severely broken skull."

Uliia winced, gently rubbing the uninjured side of his head. "Will he be alright?"

"He appears to have suffered some brain damage from the injury." The droid was quick to explain upon hearing Uliia's horrified gasp. "There was damage to both the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland. It will not affect him much, but it will likely slow his aging and metabolism. As a clone with acceleration in both, this will likely cause him to age similarly to a normal human." Uliia sighed in relief while T-6B continued. "There was something else, as well. I discovered a sort of bioorganic chip located in the portion of his brain that controls emotions. I suspect it was implanted there by the Kaminoan engineers to regulate his emotions and make him more susceptible to obeying orders. It appeared to have been damaged, so I took the liberty of removing it. You might notice some slight behavioral issues once he wakes up."

"That's okay," Uliia sighed. "Must have been damaged for a long time, 'cause he's never been like the other clones. What about his burns?"

"That is another issue." T-6B carefully lifted the sheet off of Noctus, revealing a patchwork of blistered, bright red burns and chunks of blackened, charred flesh all across his torso and remaining arm. "The severity of these burns, coupled with the brain damage, will take months to heal in a bacta tank."

Uliia froze. "_Months?_ He'll be unconscious for _months?_"

"That is the best-case scenario." T-6B began cutting bits of dead flesh from Noctus' burns as she talked. "These burns are very severe, and many reached the bone beneath. His left arm was lost entirely due to the burns, and because his helmet heated up so much, he has swelling within his skull. I alleviated much of it during the surgery, and am continuing to do so, but a full recovery could take over a year. Once healed, he will have to undergo heavy physical therapy to help him regain muscular control, and he could have respiratory issues as well. Many of the muscles in his upper body have been severely burned, and I calculate that he has sustained moderate nerve damage to approximately 32% of his body, and severe nerve damage to 8% of his body." She looked up from her task, fixing her gaze on Uliia's horrified face. "It will take him years to recover to the state he was in prior to the injuries."

Uliia stumbled slightly, bringing a trembling hand to her mouth. "_Ryma gesu'tuno ozanta yissa,_" she whispered. "Mother give you good health."

"There is more." Uliia looked up at T-6B in utter loss.

"More? What more is there?"

"During my neural scan, I detected an immense amount of mental suffering in this clone." The droid looked to a datapad on the wall. "I suspect it is unrelated to the injuries he has sustained."

"Yes," Uliia sighed, frowning. "He was here during the Battle of Ryloth. He… experienced something horrible, something he refuses to talk about."

"Hmm," T-6B muttered, rubbing her chin. "You are a Jedi, correct? Could you not probe his mind to discover what exactly is causing him this stress? Forgive me if my assumption is incorrect, I possess only basic knowledge of this 'Force' you Jedi wield."

Uliia paused for a moment. "I- I don't know, my Master would probably know how to… I'm just a Padawan. I'm not strong enough to do anything like that."

"Perhaps," T-6B said. She reached below the surgical bench, pulling out a secondary work surface and patting it. "I need to examine your injuries now. Please, remove your towel and lay on your back."

Uliia did so, shivering slightly against the cold metal. Normally she would have resisted, as past experiences had led to a crippling fear of people touching her body. But for some reason, she wasn't uncomfortable with the droid examining her bare body; she had no ulterior motives, she was just doing her job. It helped that the droid had a female programming. Regardless, she did flinch as T-6B tapped the scar above her heart.

"This appears to be a blaster wound," T-6B said. "I am surprised that you survived such an injury."

"It was a droid," Uliia responded. "I got hit while saving Noctus' life a few months ago."

"Fascinating. Your medic did a wonderful job healing you." T-6B sprayed a cold bacta mist over her burned cheek, gently taping a gauze patch over it. "This should heal in a day or so. You are lucky the burn was merely superficial." She moved down her body, giving her a once-over as she reached Uliia's ankle, scanning the joint. "This does appear to have been dislocated recently. You did the correct thing in resetting it. However, the ligaments are strained and damaged; I recommend you avoid putting pressure on it for a few days."

"That's fine," Uliia sighed. "Maybe I can figure out what's bothering Noctus while I rest." She leaned over to stroke the clone's face, but paused, shivering. "Could you bring me something to wear? It's chilly in here."

"Of course." T-6B left the room for a moment, then came back, a bundle of cloth in her arms. Uliia raised an eyebrow at the wide assortment of clothes laid before her.

"I'm not going to ask where these came from."

"That's probably for the better."

Uliia sifted through the pile, holding up a skirt with disdain. "You don't have any pants I could wear?"

"My apologies," T-6B said. "I was under the impression that females typically wore such garments."

"I prefer not to flash everybody when I'm fighting," Uliia responded. "Do you have any clothing for guys?"

"I do not believe there is any that would fit you," T-6B said, walking back to the storage locker. "The only male clothing in your size are a few sets of underwear and a shirt."

"That's fine." Uliia glanced at a set of pink lace panties and matching bra, eyebrow raised. "Better than those. Do you have anything besides this thing?" she asked, holding up the bra. "Something that covers up more, maybe with more compression?" She glanced at the tag, wincing slightly. "Something a bit smaller?"

T-6B turned from the locker, carrying more clothes. "That is a training bra, Miss Uliia. We have nothing smaller than that." Uliia groaned, rubbing her forehead. T-6B cocked her head to the side. "I assume that is simply a preference of yours, and not a necessity."

Uliia's jaw dropped as she looked up at the droid. "Did- did you just… what?"

"That was a joke." T-6B set the shirt and a few pairs of boxers beside Uliia. "It was meant to put you at ease."

Uliia stared at the droid, then chuckled, a small grin on her face. "That's the first time I've ever laughed at someone making fun of me," she said. "And I don't _need_ to wear one, I just like the extra bit of security." She picked up the shirt, frowning as she felt the rough fabric. "And they're usually softer on my skin." She sighed, throwing on one of the boxers and the shirt before turning back to the pile of clothing. "I'll just find a longer skirt. It'll be like my old Jedi robes before I got rid of them."

"Why would you do that?" T-6B asked, inserting an IV into Noctus' arm. "If you prefer more privacy from your clothing, I would imagine robes cover more than a halter top and compression shorts."

"Yes, but they weigh me down and restrict my movement." Uliia pulled the skirt on, frowning at how loose the waist was before retrieving her belt and boots from the locker where T-6B had stored them. "I'm more suited for athletic combat than standing still and deflecting blaster shots. The faster I can move, the better I can fight."

"I see." T-6B moved down Noctus' body, fastening a harness around his waist. "This will keep him suspended in the bacta tank. I will need you to help lift him into position."

* * *

"I count fifty battle droids patrolling the walls, General." Falcon lowered his macrobinoculars, glancing to the Jedi behind him. "Twenty supers, nine destroyers, and a squad of commando droids. Three tanks as well."

Jiana didn't respond immediately, rubbing her temples as she looked at the trail leading to the outpost, the occasional trickle of blood giving the rocky surface a rusted appearance. "Why would she be so stupid?" she muttered. "Rhino, did you figure out who's blood that is?"

The ARC flipped his scanner down over his visor, running the beam over a particularly large stain. "It's Noctus'. From the spray pattern here, it looks like it came from beneath his helmet, maybe his neck. He wouldn't have lasted long with an injury like that."

"Which is probably why the Commander dragged him to that outpost," Trigger added, blaster aimed at the Separatist base. "She probably froze up on seeing Noctus bleeding and all. I don't know how she managed to drag him over a kilometer."

Quint knelt beside a bush, picking up the chewed branch and examining it before turning his attention to the bush and its broken twigs. "She was injured too. Something pulled hard on this bush. I'd say these rocks here are positioned just right for her to fit her ankle in between. Must have been a leg injury."

"Probably dislocated," Falcon piped in. "No way she could have carried Noctus that far on a broken ankle."

Jiana shuddered at the thought of her Padawan lying on the ground, clutching a broken leg in agony. "Just drop it. It doesn't matter what happened here. What matters is that she's probably being held prisoner in there."

"If they're still alive," Trigger muttered. Jiana flashed him a furious look, and he held up his hands in defense. "Hey, you heard what Rhino said. Noctus could easily have bled out on the way, and there's no telling if the droids actually agreed to help them, let alone if there was anything they could even do."

The squad was silent for a minute, the air heavy. Finally Rhino spoke up. "Our orders, General?"

Jiana's eyes narrowed, her grip tightening around her lightsaber. "We're going to destroy that outpost. We're going to kill every droid in there. And we're going to save my Padawan."

Rhino paused, seeing the fire in his General's eyes. "With all due respect General, isn't revenge frowned upon by the Jedi Order?"

"Do I look like I care about the Order right now, Major?" Jiana snapped. A yellow sheen flashed across her eyes momentarily, rapidly fading back to their usual magenta. "This discussion is over, Rhino. Let's go."

Rhino's holocomm chirped to life, the ARCs hand automatically dropping to his belt to retrieve it. He glanced at the ID code and frowned, removing his helmet. "It's from the Chancellor's office. Why would Chancellor Palpatine be contacting us?"

Jiana frowned as well, an unnerved feeling rising in the back of her mind. "Put him through. Maybe it's good news about the war."

Rhino activated the holo, and Jiana felt a deep cold wash over her body as a hooded figure appeared in Rhino's hand.

"Major Rhino of Inferno Company, the time has come." Yellow, bloodshot eyes flickered from the clone to Jiana beside him, pure hatred in his voice.

"Execute Order 66."

* * *

**Authors note: Well, we all knew it was coming. I'm beginning work on the next chapter now, and it's tearing me to bits. Maybe it's because I was the one to create these characters, but writing about them dying hurts. Speedy, Patches, Smokey... all good men that died too soon. And Noctus. Poor, poor Noctus. I promise you what happened to him was important. Maybe not now, but down the line.**

**Related note, I'm drafting concepts for a potential sequel, set during the time of the Empire. It's gonna have almost 20 new, original characters, plus some of the characters we all know and love. But I haven't been getting much response on this story, so it's tough for me to get the motivation to create another story, let alone finish this one. So please, let me know what you think. I don't like asking, but it makes me think nobody cares about any of my writings.**


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